Puri Jagannath Temple's Ratna Bhandar opens after 46 years: What's inside?

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

Hindu place of worship Shree Jagannath Temple Puri’s Ratna Bhandhar, closed for over four decades, was reopened on Sunday.

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

According to the officials, the treasury was opened at 1.28 pm in the presence of 11 people including former Orissa HC judge Biswanath Rath. The officials came out of the bhandar around 5.20 pm.

What did officials do inside Ratna Bhandar?

The chief administrator of the Jagannath Temple administration, Arabinda Padhee, informed that the members first opened the outer chamber of the bhandar. They found ornaments and valuables inside the Bhandar, which were then shifted to a temporary strong room. 

He noted that this room has now been sealed.

Then, the authorities visited the inner chamber of the treasury where they found three locks. According to Padhee, none of those three locks could be opened with the keys that were available with the officials. 

“So, as per the SOP, we broke the three locks in the presence of a magistrate, and then, we entered the inner chamber,” he said.

He further said that the officials inspected the chamber and its valuables that were kept inside almirahs and chests.

However, the officials won’t shift these valuables immediately and a specified date will be designated for the same.

Accordingly, the officials will carry out the inventory of the valuables and the repair work for the structure.

Significance of Ratna Bhandar in Odisha Assembly polls

Considered the most important part of the temple, the original keys of this bhandar are reportedly missing. This issue was the key poll plank of the Bharatiya Janata Party against the previous Naveen Patnaik government, which helped it to surge to power on June 10 as the results were announced.

The first time news surfaced that the bhandar’s keys had gone missing was in 2018 when the officials could not locate it. This followed after they were directed to inspect its structural condition by the Odisha High Court.

Following this, the Patnaik government launched an inquiry into the matter. However, the controversy further snowballed days after this enquiry was launched as a set of the keys had mysteriously appeared in the office of the then district collector of Puri, Aravaind Agarwal.

Agarwal had then told the media that he found an envelope in his record room, which had written on it - “duplicate keys of the inner Ratna Bhandar.”

During last month’s polls, the BJP had promised to reopen the door of the treasure trove and release the Patnaik government’s report on the issue in the public domain.