Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple in Puri to open on July 14: Audit panel chief

Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of the Jagannath temple in Puri that contains jewelleries and other the valuables of the holy trinity, will be opened on July 14, the head of the new high-level committee appointed by the Mohan Majhi government said on Tuesday.

Biswanath Rath, who is also a retired judge of the Orissa high court, was appointed as the head of the 16-member panel to oversee the highly anticipated inventorisation of the treasury.

“The committee reached a consensus that whether the key is available or not or whether it functions or not, the Ratna Bhandar will be reopened. Officials are busy as the Rath Yatra festival is still on. Hence, the chief administrator of the temple has been asked to produce the key before the committee on July 14. The Odisha government and the managing committee will now have some time to decide. We hope that the government will grant us the necessary permissions,” Rath said.

Over last week, there was a lot of confusion over the opening of the Ratna Bhandar as the government scrapped the old panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat. The old committee of 12 members was set up by former CM Naveen Patnaik in February this year. They met twice before the committee disbanded last week.

The Ratna Bhandar, located near the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, is arguably the most precious property of the temple that contains several priceless pieces of jewellery belonging to the shrine, including diamond, gold and silver.

Rath said since the audit process is a time-consuming affair, there is a need for competent people who can identify old ornaments, some of which are over 1,500 years old.

“The Odisha government should form a group of goldsmiths and metrologists. The temple management has informed that a designated place has been finalised where the ornaments will be shifted as the temple property cannot be taken outside. We will see the nature and value of the ornaments (whether 22 or 24 carat), nature of gems, etc. As there are several aspects to this, the state government needs to make necessary provisions so that inventory work can commence. Several teams need to be formed and confidential and experienced people need to be selected,” he said.

Though the outer chamber is opened for various rituals of deities and the valuables stored there are used during Suna Besha of Lord Jagannath, the inner chamber has not been opened since 1978. The Jagannath Temple Act states that there has to be an audit of all valuables kept in the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar every three years.

“There would be some problems during inventory and repair work. The devotees may have to see the Lord from a distance during that period. Stress will be given to two aspects – repair work of the Ratna Bhandar and inventory of the ornaments. We have suggested some SOPs in this regard,” Rath said.

On April 4, 2018, a 16-member team comprising members of Archaeological Survey of India, state government officials including chief administrator of Jagannath temple, Puri district collector and temple servitors had tried opening the Ratna Bhandar following an order by the Orissa HC. However, the keys that the team carried did not match the padlock, triggering a major controversy.

Standing at a height of 11.78 metres and having a width of 8.79 metres x 6.74 metres, the Ratna Bhandar has two chambers — Bahara Bhandar (outer chamber) and Bhitara Bhandar (inner chamber) that contain the gold and silver jewels offered to Lord Jagannath.

During the last inventory of the Ratna Bhandar between May 13 and July 23 in 1978, 454 gold articles with a net weight of 128.380 kg and 293 silver articles weighing 221.530 kg were found in both the chambers of the treasury. While the inner treasury had 367 gold items weighing 43.640 kg and 231 silver items weighing 148.780 kg, the outer treasury had gold items of 84.74 kg and silver items of 73.64 kg.