Ratna Bhandar needs immediate repair says Sudarsan

Bhubaneswar : Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has sought Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s intervention to immediately carry out repair work inside the ‘Ratna Bhandar’ of Puri’s Jagannath temple.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Sudarsan said a technical committee of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had inspected the inner Ratna Bhandar chamber in 2018 and found several structural damage in the walls, ceiling and basement while recommending immediate repair.

“It has not been acted upon even after six long years, thus the damage might have further deteriorated by now. The laser scanning done in February 2024 also detected cracks on the outside of Ratna Bhandar,” he said in the letter dated June 25.

Sudarsan urged the Chief Minister to “instruct ASI to take up the repair and maintenance work of inner Ratna Bhandar immediately, as the forthcoming monsoon may cause further damage and threaten the integrity of entire temple structure”.

Sudarsan, who is also a member of the management committee of the 12th-century shrine, said he had already raised this matter in the meetings of the committee. The opening and repair of the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) of the temple has been an emotive issue, he said.

“There has already been a delay of six years in carrying out the necessary repair work of the Ratna Bhandar. The work on this needs to be initiated at the earliest to check further damage,” Sudarsan said.

The Ratna Bhandar has an outer chamber storing the day-to-day ornaments of the deities – Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra – and an inner chamber.

The BJP, in its manifesto for Odisha Assembly polls, had said that it would “expedite the investigation of the missing key to the Ratna Bhandar of Shri Jagannath Mandir”, “restore the auditing process of Ratna Bhandar’s inventory and publish the report” and “open all four gates of Shri Jagannath Mandir for devotees”.

All the four gates of Jagannath temple in Puri were reopened for devotees on June 13. The previous BJD government had kept three out of four gates shut since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The devotees were allowed to enter only through Singhadwara (Lion Gate), while the gates located at the three other sides of the temple remained closed, causing inconvenience to the devotees.

Sudarsan, who had raised the issue of the closure of the three gates of the temple for people to have hassle-free darshan of the deities, expressed confidence that the Manjhi government will pay heed to his request for carrying out repair work inside the treasure trove as well.

“The BJP government already fulfilled its promise related to the opening of all the four gates for devotees. I am sure that the Majhi government will also ensure immediate repair of the Ratna Bhandar. The repair work is also the demand of lakhs of devotees of Lord Jagannath,” he said.