BHUBANESWAR: Responding to a request made by Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, ISKCON has said it has no authority to facilitate the removal of ‘Dham’ tag given to the recently-inaugurated Jagannath temple at Digha in West Bengal.
The reply came after Puri’s titular king, who is the chairman of Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC) on May 7 sought ISKCON’s intervention to resolve the issue relating to the ‘Dham’ name given to the new temple at Digha.
Deb had written to Goverdhan Das Prabhu, chairman of ISKCON’s governing body commission, Mayapur (West Bengal), requesting them to persuade the Digha temple trust to remove ‘Dham’ term from the Digha shrine.
Stating that the Jagannath temple at Digha has been built by the West Bengal government. president of ISKCON’s Bhubaneswar branch Satwatpati Das said ISKCON has no role, nor authority to intervene with regard to change of ‘Jagannath Dham’ name from the Digha temple. “Iskcon has already replied this to the Puri king,” he said.
Iskcon’s vice-president, Bhubaneswar, Tukaram Das, said that ISKCON has only been assigned by the temple trust to perform daily worship and rituals (seva puja). ISKCON has no role to play in Digha temple. as West Bengal government had finalised the trust’s name before they engaged Iskcon for the seva puja, he said.
While the Puri king could not be contacted for comment, state government officials said they are awaiting West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s reply to her Odisha counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi’s letter on May 6 requesting the removal of ‘Jagannath Dham’ name from the Digha temple.
The Odisha government is of the view that Jagannath Dham belongs exclusively to Puri, which is one of the four dhams in the country. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati of Govardhan Peeth (Puri) and Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati Maharaj of Jyotish Peeth have categorically stated that it is only Puri which is ‘Jagannath Dham’.” said.
