Shankaracharya Reacts To Renaming Of Jagannath Dham Puri In Odisha

Puri: As the demand to rename Puri as Shree Jagannath Dham Puri gathers steam, Shankaracharya Neeshchalananda Saraswati on Friday said renaming was not necessary.

Jagannath Puri is known to the world as Puri and that is its uniqueness, said the Shankaracharya. “I do not see any need to change the name of Puri Peetha to Jagannath Puri,” he added.

Speaking to mediapersons here, the Shankaracharya explained the name Puri and said all the 7 dhams have a suffix Puri like Dwaraka Puri, Mathura Puri or Ayodhya Puri but Jagannath Puri (the 8th dham) is known as only Puri and symbolises Lord Jagannath which is significant in itself.

Meanwhile, pushing for their demand the members of Jagannath Sena said the renaming of pilgrim town should begin with railway station.

Priyadarshan Patnaik of Jagannath Sena said they will submit a memorandum to Railway Minister with their demand and hoped that the day will soon come when Ashwini Vaishnaw himself will inaugurate it.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is here as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kedarnath visit live, said for the past few days there have been demands from various organisations to rename Puri. He opined that it would be ideal to change the name of Puri to Jagannath Puri.