Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has initiated process for the renovation of Niladri Vihar museum, located on Srimandir premises, under the Iconic City scheme of the Central government.
The temple administration has planned to spend around Rs 1.5 crore on the project in the first phase. Sources said the SJTA has decided to construct an air-conditioned building for the museum and invited tenders from private construction companies in this regard.
Earlier, the shrine administration constituted an eight-member committee to suggest measures for the museum renovation. The committee includes Jhanjipita Mutt pontiff Sachidanand Das Maharaj, researcher on Jagannath culture Surendra Kumar Mishra and religious scholar Naresh Chandra Das.
According to sources, the panel, in its March 26 meeting, had suggested the SJTA to rename the museum as Shree Jagannath Lilakunj. It is learnt that the committee has also proposed that the temple administration set up a spate gallery at the museum to showcase the mythological details regarding the arrival of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.
Similarly, the panel had argued for a gallery to depict the relocation of Srimandir idols to other places in the state during invasions by hostile forces. Moreover, separate galleries have been proposed to inform people regarding the festivals at Srimandir and legends associated with Lord Jagannath as well as the 12th century shrine.
Sources said the expert panel has supported construction of an audiovisual hall at the museum to show people anecdotes about the Lord and Srimandir. Moreover, the proposed hall will be used to play the videos of the last Nabakalebara festival held in 2015.
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