After 46 years, the curtain will be lifted from Lord Jagannath’s treasure chest! If the key is not found, the lock will be broken this time

Ratna Bhandar was last opened in 1978.

Jagannath Temple Gemstone Store, This magnificent 12th century temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri is once again in the news. This time the temple is being discussed regarding the opening of its treasure i.e. Ratna Bhandar. If the government gives permission, then Ratna Bhandar will open once again after 46 years i.e. on 14th July. After this, people will be able to know how many precious gold, silver and stone studded ornaments are there in this Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath. After the opening of Ratna Bhandar, a list of ornaments will be made and they will be repaired.

Ratna Bhandar was last opened in 1978

It is said that there are Ratna Bhandar in two rooms of the temple. These contain ornaments of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. The rooms containing Ratna Bhandar were last opened in 1978. The then Law Minister Pratap Jena had said that there are 12 thousand 831 heavy gold ornaments studded with gems and precious stones and 22 thousand 153 silver utensils and other materials in Ratna Bhandar. Ratna Bhandar was last opened between 13 May and 23 July 1978. The special thing is that the room was also opened on 14 July 1985 but this time no information was given about Ratna Bhandar. There is also talk of some ornaments being stolen from Ratna Bhandar. Overall, the Ratna Bhandar room has been opened only four times so far in 1984, 1978, 1926 and 1905.

Government permission is necessary to open a gem store

The special thing is that the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), which manages and maintains the temple, can never open the Ratna Bhandar of this temple. To open it, it has to take permission from the Odisha government. An attempt was made to open the Ratna Bhandar in the year 2018 as well. On the orders of the High Court, the state government gave permission to open the Ratna Bhandar room but it did not get the key of the room on time and the room could not be opened. After this, the Archaeological Survey of India i.e. ASI had to inspect from outside. There is also suspense over the loss of the keys. It was also investigated but nothing came out.

There are rules on the maintenance of jewellery

Sri Jagannath Temple also has rules regarding the maintenance and counting of the jewels of Ratna Bhandar. According to this, the Ratna Bhandar should be audited every six months. Who will be responsible for these jewels, how it should be audited and who will have the keys, all this has been explained in detail in Sri Jagannath Temple Rules-1960. According to this rule, the responsibility of keeping the keys of the Ratna Bhandar room lies with the temple administration. It has also been said that on the orders of the government, the temple administration will have to hand over the keys to it.

Then the lock will be broken and the gem store will be opened

Now the big question is whether the Ratna Bhandar room will be opened this time? The high level committee formed in connection with the Ratna Bhandar has sent its recommendation to the Odisha government to open the Ratna Bhandar room on July 14. The committee says that even after getting the government’s permission, if the temple administration does not provide the keys, the lock will be broken and the Ratna Bhandar will be opened. It is clear that the committee has completely made up its mind to open the lock of the Ratna Bhandar. If the lock opens, a list of the jewellery will be made and it will be repaired. The nature, form and weight of the jewellery will also be checked. Anyway, everyone is curious to know what is there in this Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath. Everyone wants to see the mystery and suspense of the Ratna Bhandar being revealed.