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Odisha’s Jagannath temple is in the news these days because the gems storehouse has been opened there after 46 years. Devotees have deep faith in the Ratna Bhandar of Puri temple as it is the treasure of Lord Jagannath. This Ratna Bhandar is the home of precious gold and diamond ornaments offered to Lord Jagannath. There are two chambers of Ratna Bhandar – inner storehouse, and outer storehouse. According to the information, the outer treasury has Lord Jagannath’s crown made of gold, three gold necklaces. Each of which weighs 120 tolas. The inner treasury has about 74 gold ornaments, each of which weighs more than 100 tolas. Apart from this, there are plates made of gold, coral, diamonds and pearls. Apart from this, more than 140 silver ornaments have also been kept in the treasury.
Items of outer Ratna Bhandar sealed
At present, the items of the outer Ratna Bhandar have been kept in 6 wooden boxes and sealed. However, the items of the inner part have not been kept in the box yet. This work will be done after Bahuda Yatra and Suna Vesha. The gems, jewellery and other precious things present in the Ratna Bhandar will be counted and repaired. A digital catalogue related to their number, quality, weight, photo will also be prepared, which will be used as a reference document in future. However, no disclosure has been made by the 11-member team about what things were found in the Ratna Bhandar opened yesterday. At the same time, 46 years ago in 1978, when the Ratna Bhandar of the temple was opened, about 140 kg of gold jewellery, 256 kg of silver utensils were found.
Why was it not opened for 46 years?
In fact, in the year 2018, the Odisha High Court had directed the state government to allow the opening of the Ratna Bhandar of Puri Jagannath Temple for inspection. But the Odisha government said that the keys of the Ratna Bhandar are not being found. Let us tell you that the keys of the Ratna Bhandar are kept with the Puri Collector. In such a situation, the then collector Arvind Agarwal had given an affidavit in the High Court saying where the keys are kept. It is not known.
BJP fulfilled its promise
After which Naveen Patnaik, who was the Chief Minister at that time, formed a committee and ordered an investigation into the matter. After which the committee told that two keys of Ratna Bhandar are present. And BJP also promised that if their government is formed in Odisha, then all the four entrances of Puri Jagannath temple will be opened and Ratna Bhandar will also be opened. After which, as soon as the BJP government is formed, BJP has also fulfilled its promise by opening Ratna Bhandar.
