270-Year-Old Temple Being Lifted 6 Ft Using Hydraulic Jacks In Odisha’s Ganjam

Berhampur: When the 270-year-old Shree Jagannath temple made of stone at Rambha in Odisha’s Ganjam district faced waterlogging, the structure lifting technology using hydraulic jacks has proved to be a boon for the devotees.

It has also come as a relief to the Rambha Group of Temples Development Committee (RGTDC). As many as 400 hydraulic jacks are being used in this project, sources said.

The temple was virtually below the level of the road around it after the road was repaired and raised its height over the years. There were possibilities of rain and drain water gushing into the temple premises especially during the rainy season.

The villagers and members of the temple management committee first planned to demolish the temple structure made of stone and re-build it in bricks after Swami Sankarananda Giri, a native of Rambha who runs mathas in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Redhakhol and other places visited the temple and expressed concern over possibilities of a waterlogging. “Subsequently, Swami Sankarananda Giri contacted an engineer and his team from Rohtak in Haryana using house lifting technology to lift the temple structure to a certain height with our consent,” said Subash Panda, Advisor RGTDC and Chairman of Rambha NAC.

The team has already started the work”, said a local devotee. The team having offices at New Delhi and Bhubaneswar and have already accomplished lifting job of three temples in Odisha including a Radhakrushna temple at Kendrapada (6 feet), Jagannath temple at Bhadrak (7 feet) and 500-year-old Shiva temple at Jajpur (15 feet) along with about 100 houses did survey at Rambha a month ago and work is in progress now.

The team consisting of masons and 10 workers first dug up the soil to a depth of 9 feet on three sides of the temple. Only the front portion of the temple is yet to be dug up. Then they fixed hydraulic jacks and some cubes under the base of the structure. The bottom portion would be filled up with concrete and the height would be further raised after the concrete completely dries up and becomes hard enough to accommodate hydraulic jacks to lift the height of the structure subsequently.

It would take them about 3 months to lift the entire structure by 6 feet, said one of the team members. The team members are confident to lift the structure to a height of 6-feet without any damage to the temple. “We have already completed tasks of lifting many houses and temples during the last 10 years and the success rate is cent per cent,” he said.

The three deities in the Jagannath temple were shifted to Raghunath temple nearby before the lifting work started. The deities are kept there in a plywood structure with as usual daily rituals.

“We have signed a contract with the company for this project at Rs 40 lakh. But we have to spend more money for other structures after the temple attains more height. The ‘Ratna Simhasana’, glazing tiles, marbles are to be incorporated. We are also planning to construct the ‘Baisi Pahacha’ (22 sacred steps) inside the Jagannath temple and purify the temple after the lifting work is complete. We have estimated another Rs 60 lakh for this purpose,” said Subash Panda.

This famous Jagannath temple was built on an area of 400 X 300 feet by the Maharaja of Biruli about 270 years ago, as mentioned in the ‘Panchabali Panji’ the record mentioned in palm leaf  about the number of temples, land allotted for other purposes, the family tree of the royal dynasty and others. Mahendra Kumar Singh Deo, the present Raja of the erstwhile Biruligarh state, who lives in a palace about 4-km from Rambha now also expressed his happiness over the lifting project.