11-Member Team Enters Puri Jagannath Temple To Open Ratna Bhandar

Puri: Members of the 11-member team entered Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Sunday to open the Ratna Bhandar inside its complex for inventory and repair work.

According to sources, the team included chairman of the high-level inspection committee Justice (Retd) Biswanath Rath and Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Arabinda Padhee.

The team members went inside the 12th century shrine after performance of certain rituals and arrival of ‘Agyan Mala’ (sacred garland) from the temple of Lord Loknath.

Before entering the temple, SJTA chief Padhee told media that the Ratna Bhandar will only be opened on Sunday and inventorisation work will be taken up later.

Stating that structural safety of the inner Ratna Bhandar is important, he said no counting of ornaments and other valuables will be done after opening the treasury on Sunday.

Only shifting the valuables will be done to the temporary strong room, Padhee said.

Meanwhile, six huge chests made of teak wood with metal plating have been brought to the temple to store the valuables of the Ratna Bhandar in the temporary strong room.

The temporary strongroom where the valuables of the Ratna Bhandar are to be stored will be put under high-resolution CCTV surveillance, said a senior police official.

The Ratna Bhandar is being reopened for the first time after more than four decades. The Ratna Bhandar of the 12th-century shrine was last opened 46 years ago in 1978.

A meeting of the supervisory committee was held in the morning ahead of the reopening of the Ratna Bhandar. The auspicious time to open Ratna Bhandar has been set at 1.28 pm, informed Justice Rath after the meeting.