BJP Leader Files PIL In Odisha High Court For Opening Of Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India]: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Samir Mohanty on Saturday filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Odisha High Court, seeking the opening of Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of Lord Jagannath in Puri.

According to the officials, the BJP leader petitioned the Odisha High Court to permit the opening of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar (treasury) in Puri for the repair and inventory of decorations. In the PIL, the former Odisha BJP President also asked for an inquiry by the (Central Bureau of Investigation) CBI into the Shree Jagannath Temple’s duplicate key, or Ratna Bhandar, added the officials.

BJP leader Samir Mohanty has asked for a CBI investigation over the duplicate key of Shree Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar.

Meanwhile, Lord Jagannath’s Badagrahi Jagannath Swain Mohapatra on Thursday expressed displeasure over the usage of old ornaments during the regular rituals of the Holy Trinity over the years.

Lord Jagannath and his siblings-Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, donned ‘Rajarajeswar Besha’, popularly known as ‘Suna Besha’, on Thursday evening.

As per the legend, King Kapilendra Deb had brought a vast amount of gold jewellery by conquering a neighbouring kingdom. He donated all the valuable tonnes of gold to the temple in 1460. Since then, the ‘Suna Besha’ has been a major ritual for the deities during Rath Yatra.

In the olden days, during the reign of Kapilendra Deba, the deities wore nearly 138 designs of gold ornaments. But these days, the deities are decorated with only 35 types of ornaments. The weight of these ornaments is 208 Kilogrammes. Ratna Bhandar of Puri Jagannath Temple has not been open for about four decades.

More than 15 lakh people rushed to Puri to see the ‘Suna Besha’ of Lord Jagannath.