Valuation of Lord's Ornaments Still a Nonstarter

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Photos: Sampradaya Sun
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Jul 22, 2010 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — What could be the face value of the gold and silver ornaments of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra stored in bhandar ghar (jewelry store) of the 12th century shrine? The million dollar question continues to remain unanswered since 1978, as the valuation process of the ornaments has since been facing stiff opposition from priests of the temple.

While there is a curiosity on part of the common mass to have updates about the exact weight and worth of the ornaments of the Deities, priests categorically pooh-poohed the need of any such valuation.

The debate gathered steam on the occasion of Suna Besha on Thursday when the Deities wore around 208 kg of gold ornaments on Their chariots.

"There is no harm in knowing the weight and worth of the ornaments of the Deities. People should know the existing condition of the jewelries that were believed to have been brought by erstwhile kings long ago," said Sudhanshu Satapathy, a citizen said.

"Unless you check and count the pieces of ornaments, how could you protect and preserve it," he asked.

But priests found little meaning in it. "There is absolutely no need to make valuation of the ornaments," said Ramdas Mohapatra. Another priest, Rabinarayan Mohapatra, who is the joint-secretary of Garabadu Nijog, also corroborated what Dasmohapatra said. But both of them were silent as to why there was no need to assess the value of the ornaments.

Priests were resentful in similar ways when there were proposals to evaluate the ornaments of the Deities in the past, as well.

According to sources, the Jagannath Temple administration in 1978 had made a list of the ornaments stored in the temple. Then it was found that around 454 gold articles (designs) weighing around 12,830 bharis, and nearly 293 silver articles weighing around 22,149 bharis were found stored inside the temple, sources said.

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Currently, very few of the ornaments are fetched from the store room to decorate the Deities during Suna Besha on chariots, sources said. Nearly 138 designs of gold ornaments used to be worn by the Deities during Suna Besha long ago. The number has been curtailed to just 20 or 30 designs at present.

"During 1978 it was found that around 367 numbers of gold articles and 231 numbers of silver ornaments (together weighing around 19,239 bharis) were not in use. Similarly, 79 numbers of gold and 39 numbers of silver ornaments were used during festive occasions. And 8 numbers of gold and 23 numbers of silver ornaments were used by the Deities daily," said Sarat Mohapatra, the founder of Sri Jagannath Research Center, a Puri-based religious organisation.

Mohapatra claimed to be the special officer to then Orissa governor, Shankar Dayal Sharma when the list was prepared in 1978. At the time, Sharma was heading a nine-member committee formed to oversee developmental activities at Jagannath Temple.

"Soon after the list of ornaments was made, a proposal was made to make valuation of the ornaments. Valuators from Gujarat, Tirupati, Chennai and Orissa were supposed to carry out the process when priests threw a spanner in the work," Mohapatra said. A few more attempts were also made to make valuation, but to no avail.

In 2008, the matter resurfaced and was wrapped up amid protest from priests. "In 2008, the temple managing committee contemplated to do the valuation of ornaments. But again, some priests waged a protest," said Rabindranath Pratihari, a senior priest.