Missing Sun-Moon Ornate Of Lord Jagannath Back In Puri’s Srimandir

Puri: The ‘sun and moon’ ornate of Lord Jagannath which went missing during Nagarjuna Besha of the deity has been restored to Srimandir on Friday.

Informing this, Chief Artisan of the Jagannath Temple, Basant Moharana said the ornate used in the rare Nagarjuna Besha of Lord Jagannath on November 27 is back to its original place.

According to Moharana, the ornate was returned by a servitor and kept safely in the ‘Garada’ (storeroom). However, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is yet to issue a clarification pertaining to the missing ornate.

On November 28, a temple employee Akshaya Barik was found taking the ‘Surjya’ and ‘Chandra’ items to the house of a senior servitor. Barik had said he was carrying the ornate from the Garada of the temple at the direction of a temple administration official. He was on his way to deliver it to the house of a senior sevayat.

The incident was strongly condemned by sevayats of Puspalak Nijog and Garabadu Nijog who urged the temple administration for an investigation.

Following the disputes among the sevayats of different Nijogs over the possession of the Nagarjuna Besha items, the temple administration had convened a meeting of the Chhattisha Nijog and the temple managing committee.

It was unanimously decided at the meeting that the Besha items of the Lord will be kept at the museum so that the devotees can have the opportunity to witness the rare outfit.