Bhubaneshwar: A little more than four and half decades after the Ratna Bhandar or the treasury of the Jagannath Temple was opened for audit and inventorisation, the storehouse of several valuables of the three deities would be opened on Sunday in the presence of members of the snake helpline and some doctors.
The 16-member committee headed by retired high court judge Biswanath Rath that would supervise the inventorisation of the valuables inside the treasury is still working on the standard operating procedure of the opening process, but some members of the committee said the assistance of snake helpline officials would be sought when the Ratna Bhandar is opened.
“As there is a possibility of snakes inside, we will take all possible steps including keeping snake helpline members on standby. Adequate lighting arrangements have been made so that we can see through the valuables clearly. A team of doctors have also been kept ready in case any of the committee members feel sick after entering it,” said a member of the committee. “As many of the valuables are present in wooden boxes, we have to check in what conditions they are in as there is a possibility of rainwater seeping inside it,” he said.
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The members of the committee, who would enter the Ratna Bhandar, have turned vegetarians for over a week. “All would wear dhoti and gamchha like servitors of Jagannath temple wear before entering the Ratna Bhandar. Lord Lokanath who is considered as presiding deity of the treasury would be worshipped before the committee members enter it,” said the member.
Justice (retired) Rath said after the Ratna Bhandar is opened, a group of goldsmiths and meteorologists would be called to identify old ornaments. “The temple management has identified a designated place inside the temple where the ornaments will be shifted and then counted. We will see the nature of the ornaments, the character of the ornaments (whether 22 or 24 carat), nature of the gems. The digital cataloguing of the valuables of Ratna Bhandar would be done and the process would be videographed,” he said.
A member of the supervisory committee said during the opening of Ratna Bhandar, devotees can continue to visit the temple though they may have to be content with seeing the Lord from a distance during that period.
The Ratna Bhandar, located near the Jagamohana of the Jagannath temple, appears like a small temple and stands at a height of 11.78 metres. It has two chambers — Bahara Bhandar (outer chamber) and Bhitara Bhandar (inner chamber) — containing the jewels of the deities. The inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandaar is much larger than the outer one. Former deputy administrator of the temple Bhaskar Mishra said kings of several dynasties who ruled Odisha over the last several centuries and even the rulers of Nepal have donated valuable treasures like gold, silver and diamonds to the temple.
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“The first official account of the Ratna Bhandar came in 1805 in a report prepared by the then Collector of Puri, Charles Grome. The report spoke of 64 gold and silver ornaments studded with gems and pure gold and silver as well as 128 gold coins, 24 different kinds of gold ‘mohar’, 1,297 silver coins, 106 copper coins and 1,333 kinds of clothes being present in the Ratna Bhandar. When the the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration Act and Shri Jagannath Temple Administration Rules came into being after 1950 a Record of Rights (RoR) was prepared, which mentioned 150 gold ornaments in the Bahara Bhandar and 180 kinds of jewellery and 146 items of silver articles in the Bhitara Bhandar,” said Mishra.
The report prepared by Charles Gnome said some of the gold ornaments were shaped like peacock feathers, moon, sun, large crown, golden disc, lotus and tiger nails.
During the last inventory of the Ratna Bhandar 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 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.
After 1978, the inner chamber was opened twice in 1982 and 1985, but there was no audit done. During those two occasions, some silver and gold were taken out for silver cladding of the main door of the sanctum sanctorum as well as repair of the golden ‘Chita’ of Lord Balabhadra.
The opening of Ratna Bhandar had become a major poll plank during the recent assembly elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) highlighting the ‘disappearance’ of the treasury key in 2018. From PM Modi to Amit Shah, all BJP leaders raised the slogan of ‘Odia Asmita’ (Odia pride) to oust the Biju Janata Dal government led by Naveen Patnaik. The BJP had in its elections manifesto promised an audit and inventorisation of the treasury if voted to power.