The much-talked-about Ratna Bhandar inventory of the 12th-century Puri Sri Jagannath temple, which dominated the issues raised during the 2024 general election in Odisha, began on Wednesday at the temple premises in the beach town of Puri. As per schedule, the dhoti-gamuchha-clad members of the two teams, led by Justice Biswanath Rath, former judge of the Odisha High Court, and Chief Administrator of the Puri temple Aravind Padhee, IAS, accompanied by video and camera units, entered the Ratna Bhandar of Sri Jagannath temple to make a fresh inventory of the temple wealth.
At a pre-determined auspicious time of 12:09 pm, the teams entered and began counting, which concluded at about 6 pm for the day. The last inventory was done in 1978, which took 72 days for completion of the process. However, it may take more days this time, as the process is expected to be longer. While in 1978, only an inventory of valuables like gems and jewellery was done, this time a comparison with the old study will be made. However, valuation of the gems and other items of the Ratna Bhandar in monetary terms is not in the proposal now, nor was it done 48 years ago.
When the inventory began on Wednesday, it started with the Challanti Bhandar (the depository of daily-use ornaments). Thereafter, the inventory of Bahar and Bhitar Ratna Bhandar will be made. Challanti Bhandar contains mostly huge ornaments—giant-sized gold tiaras, feet, hands, ear lobes, large-sized necklaces studded with precious stones, the chitas (forehead decorations), kundalas (ear rings), and their insignias used in the Sunaveshas of the deities, besides gold and silver dish plates used for the offerings, and many more small items.
Each ornament was documented and digitally catalogued with its traditional nomenclature, recording its weight, standard of gold or silver, and the quality of the gems. Separate Sindhukas (wooden chests) for gold, silver, and other precious metals have been used for storage. For the inventory, three tables were used, with the temple bania servitor (goldsmith) and two other empanelled goldsmiths of nationalised banks, a gemologist, and a metallurgist present. While the inventory was in progress, devotees were allowed darshan of the trinity from Bahar Katha, and the daily rituals of the deities were conducted as per the normal schedule.
The 1978 inventory recorded the total gold ornaments in the Challanti Bhandar, with eight items of gold weighing 299 Bhari (in traditional measurements—one Bhari is 12.06 gms), 23 types of silver ornaments with a total weight of 2,600 Bhari. In the Bahar Ratna Bhandar, there are 79 items of gold ornaments with a total weight of 8,175 Bhari, 39 types of silver ornaments weighing 4,671 Bhari, and the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar has 367 types of gold ornaments with a total weight of 4,364 Bhari, while 231 items of silver ornaments weighing 14,878 Bhari, according to the inventory record.
The Chief Administrator Aravind Padhee and Justice Biswanath Rath conducted the business of the supervisory and ornament handling units. Deula Karan, Tadhau Karan, Pattajoshi Mahapatra, Deula Bania (temple goldsmith), Bhandar Mekapa (temple treasurer), two officers of the RBI, gemologists, and two Bank-certified goldsmiths were engaged in the work. Apart from these two members, the temple managing body was part of the team. The current inventory is intended to update the records of the treasures of the trinity—Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra, and his younger sister Goddess Subhadra. The state’s BJP government had committed to updating the inventory of the Puri temple’s Ratna Bhandar, as before the last election, the party had tried to put the previous BJD government in difficulty over the alleged theft of the Bhandar’s key, which everybody has forgotten now.