How rich is Puri temple? That’s a big mystery as the last inventory was in 1978

BHUBANESWAR: How rich is Lord Jagannath’s Puri temple? What could be the value of the diamonds, gold and silver belonging to the deities of Jagannath temple? The question has continued to remain a mystery for the last 45 years as an inventory of the gems and jewelleries stashed in the temple’s

Ratna Bhandar

(

treasury

) was last made in 1978.
After a

PIL

was filed in the Orissa HC on June 30, seeking to reopen the

Ratna

Bhandar for inventory, the HC Wednesday served a notice to the state-owned

Shree Jagannath Temple Administration

to file an affidavit. “We will go through the notice and respond,” SJTA’s chief administrator

Ranjan Kumar Das

told TOI.

While the Jagannath Temple Act 1955 says the Ratna Bhandar should be inventoried every three years, this has not been implemented. The treasury’s items were checked once in 1926 in 1978. Valuation of the jewelleries of the 1978 inventory was not made. In 2018, the state had attempted to reopen the Ratna Bhandar for a physical inspection of the structure. But it could not be completed as officials failed to open the inner chamber due to unavailability of the keys.