Jagannath Temple

Keeping in mind large congregation of devotees and tourists in this pilgrim town on the occasion of New Year celebration, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and police have made elaborate arrangements for smooth darshan of deities and movement of tourists. The SJTA in a statement said, "Entry for darshan in the 12th-century shrine will be allowed only through the Singhadwar (Lion's gate), while exit has been arranged through the other three gates. General devotees will not be permitted to enter through any gates other than the Singhadwar." However, this arrangement will not apply for servitors and their family members, who may enter or exit through any gate. "We seek everyone's cooperation for the smooth implementation of this arrangement for the orderly darshan of Mahaprabhu (Lord Jagannath)," SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said. He said this arrangement in the temple will be implemented on December 31 and January 1. This apart, the Puri district administratio

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is likely to start repair work for the 'Ratna Bhandar' of the Jagannath temple in Odisha's Puri from December 16, an official said. The ASI has sought approval from the Niti sub-committee of the temple for the proposed repair work, ASI superintendent D B Garnaik said on Sunday. "After getting the time slot, we will start the work, most probably from December 16," he said. Earlier, the ASI had conducted the GPR-GPS survey of the 12th-century shrine's 'Ratna Bhandar' (treasury) with the assistance of the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute. The institute submitted its survey findings to ASI last month, the official said. The repair work will be conducted as per the survey report and with the approval of the temple management, he said. The 'Ratna Bhandar' repair issue will be discussed during the Chhatisa Nijoga', the confederation of servitors of the Jagannath temple in Puri, scheduled for December 10, Puri Collector Sidd

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has requested the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) authorities to immediately take up the repair, maintenance and conservation work of the entire Ratna Bhandar (treasury) in the 12th century shine in Puri. SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee on Saturday said the temple administration will extend all its cooperation to ASI in the repair and maintenance of the Ratna Bhandar. "We have received the report of the Ratna Bhandar's GPR-GPS survey conducted by the ASI", Padhee said. He said the SJTA has all along been careful about the stability and security of the temple. Earlier, the ASI had conducted the GPR-GPS survey of the 12th-century shrine's Ratna Bhandar (treasury) with the assistance of Hyderabad-based NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute). Padhee said the ASI has given a 45-page report on the survey. "There has been indication of damage done to the floor and wall of the Ratna Bhandar. However, the technical repo

The Jagannath temple authorities in Puri will take up the matter with the Indian authorities of ISKCON over its plan to hold an "untimely Rath Yatra" in the US, Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan said. He said several socio-cultural organisations met him and expressed concern over the plan of ISKCON's Houston unit to conduct Lord Jagannath's 'Snan Yatra' (bathing festival) and Rath Yatra (chariot festival) in November, deviating from the normal practice at the temple in Puri where it is held a few months back at a stipulated time period. Many people including priests of the Jagannath temple are of the opinion that all rituals of the Lord across the world should be observed following religious practices held at Puri, the law minister said on Monday. The Puri Jagannath temple falls under the jurisdiction of the state government's law department. "The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration will hold talks with ISKCON and I hope a positive result will emerge," Harichandan ...

The row over the Tirupati temple erupted last week after Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu alleged that adulterated ghee was being used at the temple during the regime of his predecessor Jaganmohan Reddy

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said Odisha has a "double engine" government which would help the state develop and prosper. Addressing a gathering at Barang in Banki assembly segment in Cuttack district on Saturday, he said the BJP has provided a people-centric government in Odisha. "Odisha has a double engine government, which will help the state develop and prosper. It is a people-centric government. Our commitment is to make a new Odisha," the chief minister said. The term "double engine" is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state. "Immediately after the formation of the government, we decided to open all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri and also the Ratna Bhandar, the Lord's treasury. This shows that the state government is people-centric," Majhi said. He said the BJP is the largest party in the world with a different ideology and appealed to people to take its membership. "The BJP's ideology is to develop th

Last month, hundreds of Hindus in Pakistan gathered to celebrate the Jagannath Rath Yatra, the symbolic journey of three deities; Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra, and sister Subhadra

Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan on Sunday said the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will soon begin repairing the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of Jagannath Temple in Puri. The ASI will first assess and repair the outer chamber of the treasury, followed by the inner chamber, he said. "A minor correction has been made in the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the repair work and the date will be finalised soon," Harichandan said. He emphasised that the rituals of Lord Jagannath and his sibling deities will not be disrupted during the repair work. The Odisha government is also considering whether to perform laser scanning of the inner chamber to detect any secret compartments, Harichandan said. Addressing the issue of duplicate keys to the 'Ratna Bhandar', the law minister criticised the previous BJD government for allegedly creating "unnecessary drama" around the keys to avoid opening the treasury. "An investigation will be conducted, and those who played with the ..

The Ratna Bhandar, the revered treasury of the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri, was reopened on Thursday for the second time in a week for shifting of valuables to a temporary strong room, officials said. The treasury was reopened at 9.51 am, they said. After offering prayers before Lord Jagannath and his siblings, the members of a supervisory committee set up by the Odisha government for the shifting of valuables from the Ratna Bhandar, entered the temple around 9 am. Speaking to media persons before entering the temple, the supervising committee's chairman and Orissa High Court former judge Justice Biswanath Rath said, We sought the blessings of Lord Jagannath for smooth completion of shifting of all valuables stored inside the inner chamber of the treasury." Last time, the treasury was opened on July 14 after 46 years. On that day, the ornaments and valuables of the outer chamber of the Ratna Bhandar were shifted to a strong room. Justice Rath also requested Puri's Titula

Ratna Bhandar is the treasure trove of the 12th-century Puri-based Jagannath Temple that has been in much discussion since the recently concluded Odisha Assembly elections

Puri's Jagannath temple has formed a three-member panel to probe the falling of Lord Balabhadra idol on some servitors while it was being taken from the chariot to Gundicha temple as part of the Rath Yatra festival, an official said. The committee has expressed concern over the incident during the 'Pahandi' ritual on Tuesday night and also held a detailed discussion on the incident, said V V Yadav, chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in Puri. The three-member panel consisting of an additional district magistrate (ADM), SJTA administrator (development), and a DSP rank police officer will investigate the matter and submit a report within 10 days after completion of 'Niladri Bije' (return of Lord Jagannath and his siblings to their temple), he said. The committee will examine the available video footage and see whether designated servitors were there or not along with other aspects that led to such an incident, Yadav told reporters. The chief administra

At least two persons died and over 130 were injured in two different incidents during Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra in Odisha, officials said on Monday. A resident of Bolangir district died allegedly due to suffocation in a stampede-like situation on Sunday during the Rath Yatra in Puri, a health official said. "When we put him in the ambulance, his pulse was running. We took him to the hospital and gave him CPR. However, doctors declared him brought dead," said Sushant Kumar Patnaik, assistant commandant of St John ambulance service. According to sources, the devotee fainted on Grand Road while pulling the chariot of Lord Balabhadra. He was immediately rushed to the Puri District Headquarters Hospital, where the doctor declared him brought. Expressing grief over his death, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased. He also instructed officials concerned to ensure the best available medical care for the injured ...

The seaside pilgrim town Puri is all set for smooth conduct of Lord Jagannath's annual Rath Yatra festival which will be a two-day affair from Sunday in 53 years. Along with lakhs of devotees, President Droupadi Murmu is also scheduled to witness the Rath Yatra on Sunday. The state government has made special arrangements for her visit. Officials said that the Odisha government has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival which usually is organized in a single day. Some celestial arrangements have made it a two-day event which was last held for two days in 1971. In a departure from tradition, some of the rituals related to the festival involving three sibling deities - Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra - will also be held in a single day on Sunday. The chariots have been parked in front of the Lion's Gate of the Jagannath temple from where they would be taken to Gundicha temple where the Raths will stay for a week. The chariots will be pul

The Odisha government has formed a fresh high-level committee to supervise the reopening of Ratna Bhandar of Puri's Jagannath temple for repair and inventory of valuables stored inside the treasury. Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, in a press conference on Thursday night, said that the panel has been formed in accordance with the direction of the Orissa High Court in this regard. In March this year, the previous BJD government had formed a 12-member committee led by retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Arijit Pasayat, to supervise the inventory of jewellery and other valuables stored in the Ratna Bhandar. The BJP government has dissolved the Justice Pasayat-led panel and formed the fresh committee. "A high-level committee is hereby reconstituted, under the chairmanship of Justice Biswanath Rath, to supervise the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee in carrying out the inventorisation of valuables including jewelleries stored in the Ratna Bhandar," a ...

The death toll in the explosion of a stockpile of firecrackers in Odisha's Puri mounted to eight on Saturday after two more persons undergoing treatment succumbed to their injuries, a senior official said. At least 30 people were injured in the explosion that happened during Lord Jagannath's Chandan Jatra on Wednesday night. Among them, eight persons have died so far and 22 others are undergoing treatment in different hospitals in Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the official of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office said. "Two more people succumbed to their injuries in hospitals, while 22 others are undergoing treatment," he said, adding a few more people are in a critical condition. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered an inquiry into the incident, and announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. The Puri collector has already taken steps for the payment of Rs 4 lakh each towards ex-gratia assistance to the next of kin of the deceased,

The death toll in the firecracker explosion in Odisha's Puri mounted to four on Friday after another person succumbed to injuries, a senior official said. Three persons, including a minor, had died and 33 others were injured after a stockpile of firecrackers exploded during Lord Jagannath's Chandan Jatra festival in Puri on Wednesday evening. Another injured person has died in hospital, while 26 others were undergoing treatment, a statement issued by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered an administrative-level inquiry into the incident, and announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased. The Collector, Puri has already taken steps for payment of Rs 4 lakh each towards ex-gratia assistance to the next of kin of 4 deceased persons, the SRC statement said. An additional chief secretary-level officer of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Satyabrata Sahu, who is also the special relief ...

Fifteen people received burn injuries after a heap of firecrackers exploded during Lord Jagannath's Chandan Jatra festival in Odisha's Puri on Wednesday night, police said. Hundreds of people had gathered on the banks of Narendra Pushkarinee, a waterbody, to witness the rituals when the accident happened, they said. A group of devotees were celebrating the festival with crackers. Suddenly, a splinter from the burning crackers struck the heap, leading to the explosion, they added. The burning crackers then hit the people gathered at the spot, and some of them, even jumped into the waterbody to save themselves, police said. The injured persons were admitted to the district hospital, and the conditions of four of them were critical, a doctor said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the incident and directed officials concerned to ensure proper treatment of the injured. He said the cost of the treatment would be borne by the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

The keys of inner Ratna Bhandar, the treasure trove of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, are missing since 2018. This issue is BJP's key poll planks in Odisha as it aims to oust the Patnaik government

Nine Bangladeshis were detained by the Odisha Police for allegedly entering the Jagannath Temple in Puri unauthorisedly, an officer said on Monday. They were detained on Sunday evening after a few Vishva Hindu Parishad activists found that several Bangladeshi non-Hindus entered the 12th-century shrine, flouting the temple norms, and lodged a complaint at the Singhadwar Police Station, he said. After getting the complaint, a police team reached the spot and detained the tourists for questioning, Puri Additional SP Sushil Mishra said. We have received a complaint that some non-Hindu people from Bangladesh have entered the temple. We have detained nine Bangladeshis and started questioning them, the additional superintendent of police said. As per temple norms, only Hindus are allowed to enter the shrine. If they are found to be non-Hindu, action will be taken against them, as per law, Mishra said. We are verifying their passports. It was found that one of them is a Hindu. We are che

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday inaugurated the Rs 800-crore heritage corridor project around the historic Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri. The Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa was officially unveiled by Patnaik in presence of Gajapati Maharaja of Puri Divyasingha Deb and representatives of around 90 temples and thousands of devotees. The project has been possible due to the blessings of Lord Jagannath, the CM said. It includes parking areas, a new bridge and a road to ease pilgrim movement, a pilgrimage centre, restroom facilities, cloakrooms, toilets and other amenities for devotees in and around the Jagannath temple, officials said. The pilgrim town of Puri has been decked up with flowers, colourful lights and graffiti for the occasion, they said.