| Jagannath Temple, Puri, Odisha It is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites. It is renowned for its annual Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival), during which the deities Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra are paraded through the streets. The temple was constructed in the 12th century by King Chodaganga Deva. It is a fine specimen of the ‘Panchanathan’ style of Odishan temple architecture It is the highest living temple in Odisha and one of the tallest of India. |
- After 46 years of legal battles, controversies, and debates, the Ratna Bhandar, or sacred treasury, of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri was opened.
- Exercise was carried out after a series of rituals, joined by snake catchers, a medical team, and disaster response personnel.
- The last inventory in 1978 recorded hundreds of ornaments belonging to the three sibling deities: Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath, and Devi Subhadra.
- In 2008, the Archaeological Survey of India inspected the Ratna Bhandar but did not enter the inner chamber.
- The Odisha government formed a high-level committee under former Orissa High Court judge Justice Biswanath Rath (retd.) to oversee the cataloguing of valuables.
- The committee decided to open the Ratna Bhandar, implementing various standard operating procedures and cataloguing measures for the ornaments and valuables
Dig Deeper: Read about the Puri Shri Mandir Heritage Corridor Project and Monument of national importance in the context of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act.
