ASI postpones repair work of Sri Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar’s at Puri.

The ongoing repair and conservation work of both the Ratna Bhandar’s (Temple Treasury) of the Sri Jagannath temple would be suspended from April 27 to June 27 to observe several rituals of the presiding deities of the temple. The temple sources said the 21 day’s long Chandan Yatra would begin on April 29 and Akshay Tritiya on April 30 then another twenty-one day’s Bhitar Chandan yatra would be observed. Sri Jagannath Temple Chief Administrator Arvind Padhee told the media on Saturday.

Snan Purnima, grand bathing ritual of lord Jagannath and his siblings would be observed, followed by the fortnight-long Anasar ritual. The Trinity would recline in a sick room, supposedly suffering from fever after the holy bath. The entire temple complex maintains silence, and the darshan of presiding deities remained closed for the devotees. The deities, after recuperating, appeared for devotees on Sandhya darshan day and on June 27 they would ride the chariots to their birthplace, the Gundicha temple, for a nine-day sojourn.

The repair and conservation work would resume on June 28, the SJTA chief administrator Arvind Padhee, who chaired an important meeting, said. The meeting was attended by the Chhatisha Nijog president Janardan Pattajoshi, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) head of conservation work Chittranjan Das, concerned temple officials, Bhandar Mekap (traditional temple treasurer), Deula Karan, Tadhau Karan, and many senior servitors who discussed the repairs and conservation work of the Ratna Bhandar’s (temple treasury).

The ASI officials informed the meeting that repair and conservation work would resume after the annual Rath Yatra of the deities. The repair work of the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar was almost complete, while granite slabs would be fixed on the floor, he said. Nine steel box beams have already been erected in the Bahar Ratna Bhandar’s, and five more would be erected, while the corroded old iron clamps were replaced with new ones, he said. It has also replaced a total of 277 worn-out stones, including 148 in Bhitar Ratna Bhandar. The scaffolding was eventually removed from the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar due to this postponement.

The Archaeological Survey of India has already worked for 193 hours from December 17^th. 2024 to April 25, 2025. It needs additional fifty more working hours to complete the repair work, Padhee said.

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