Puri: Lions’ Gate, the main entrance to Srimandir in Puri, will be coated with silver during the annual Rath Yatra when the deities will be away from the 12th-century shrine, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das said, Saturday.
A devotee has agreed to donate adequate quantity of silver to be used in plating, he added. The design has been finalised reflecting the temple architecture. The work will be completed before the deities’ return to Srimandir from Gundicha Temple.
Rath Yatra will commence June 20 and Bahuda Yatra is scheduled for June 29, it was learnt. The temple managing body members along with core committee Chief NC Pal and the silver artisans had visited the temple and the Lions’ Gate.
It was decided to work within nine days during the absence of the deities in main temple. The work will be done amid round-the-clock tight security and under CCTV cover, the chief administrator informed. Except for the servitors, no one will be allowed to pass through the doors during execution of the work. Devotees will be allowed to enter and exit through other three gates he added.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has accorded necessary permission for the work, Das said.
Earlier, eight doors of the temple were silver-plated. Devotees had donated the silver for the work. This apart, the damaged ‘Ratna Pallank’, huge bed on which deities sleep during Pahuda, will be remade keeping its weight and size at par with the old one. “While ivory work was extensively done to decorate the old ‘Pallank’, we will approach the state government to provide ivory for a new one for the deity,” the chief administrator said.
PNN
