The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of Odisha’s Puri circle is set to carry out the inspection and conservation of Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri during the upcoming Rath Yatra festival of the revered deities.

“We are waiting for permission from the high court-appointed Committee to carry out the work after the opening of both the outer and inner chambers of the Ratna Bhandar. The previous government had informed the court to allow us to take up the repair work during the Rath Yatra. The inner chamber which houses precious items has to be emptied to enable ASI to do their job hassle-free,” Dibishada Brajasundar Garnayak, superintending archaeologist of the ASI’s Puri circle told The Statesman.

“The ASI will carry out the work as entrusted upon it by Orissa High Court. We found structural weakness in the outer chamber. The previous State Government had informed the Orissa High Court through an affidavit to open the Ratna Bhandar during the Rath Yatra to enable us to undertake the necessary inspection and repair work. We are prepared for it. ASI is waiting for a go-ahead signal from the 12-member committee constituted by the High Court”, Garnayak informed.

The ASI last inspected the temple in 2018 on directions of the high court and found structural weakness in the outer chamber of the temple. The data regarding its construction or inner dimensions are not available.

However, it appears to have been built around the 13th-14th century. It is integrally built with the northern fascia of the Jagamohan wall. It’s a bland structure, with whitewashing on the surface. However, the plaster seems to have become weak at some places as noticed from the hollow sound upon tapping the surface. The Committee could examine only the exterior, the ASI had informed in an affidavit submitted earlier this year to the high court.

The Ratna Bhandar comprises outer and inner chambers. The outer chamber is used for storage of the day-to-day ornaments of the deities – Jagannath, Subhadra, and Balabhadra – while the inner chamber is earmarked for storage of precious gold jewelry, gems, pearls, and rare diamonds apart from silver and other decorative items of the temple’s three presiding deities which are not used for deities’ daily rituals.

A huge controversy erupted as the key of the inner chamber was found to be missing in 2018 when the Orissa High Court ordered an inspection.

It may be mentioned here that the Odisha government, acting on HC’s directives, had constituted a 12-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat for supervision of incentivisation of the valuables including jewelry stored in the Ratna Bhandar.

It may also be recalled here that the government had constituted a judicial inquiry into the non-availability of keys of the Ratna Bhandar on June 5, 2018, as the mysterious disappearance of treasure keys had triggered a furor.

Later, a 16-member team that had entered the ‘Ratna Bhandar’ on April 4, 2018, for scrutiny of its physical conditions had to inspect its inner chambers from outside an iron grill with searchlights as the keys were missing.

Priceless gold jewelry, gems, pearls, and rare diamonds apart from silver and other decorative items of the temple’s three presiding deities – Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra – are reported to have been treasured in the Ratna Bhandar. All these treasures have poured in from devotees from various parts of the country as tokens of reverence to Lord Jagannath.

The findings of the judicial inquiry into the missing key episode of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the revered Puri Shree Jagannath Temple shrine have been submitted to the State Government. However, the previous government had kept it under wraps and shied away from making it public. The emotive issue was fully capitalized by the BJP during poll campaigning to put the previous government on the back foot