Puri: The state government and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) have failed to develop at least 15 sites that had hosted the idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra during several attacks on Srimandir from hostile elements.
Religious scholars claim that Srimandir, the abode of Lord Jagannath, had faced altogether 18 attacks from hostile forces since its consecration. Servitors, soldiers of Gajapati royals and some local volunteers had carried the deities out of Srimandir secretly and hidden them at safe places.
Scholars and servitors recognise the relocation of idols from Srimandir to safer places as part of Lord Jagannath’s Patali Leela. The then Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mahapatra had constituted a committee in 2007 to identify the places that had provided shelter to the three deities during different attacks on Srimandir.
The committee in consultation with researchers had identified two sites near Chhalia hill in Sonepur that were associated with the Patali Leela of Lord Jagannath. It is believed that the Lord had altogether spent 144 years in these two places.
The panel had also identified two such sites in Ganjam district – one at Marada Temple near Polsara and the other one at Chikili near Khallikot. The committee had visited five places near Khurda and come to know about their close association with the Srimandir deities. Legends and temple records claim that the three deities were worshipped at Bada Hantuada, Gabapadar, Bankalagada Niladri Prasad, Gadamanitri and Gadakhurda for several years in the past.
Harihareswar Mandap at Nairi, Kankanakuda, Chakanasi and Gurubai near Chilika Lake were also recognised as sacred places due to their association with the Sriamandir deities. The panel had identified the Dobandha ghat of Bhargavi river as the transit point from where the idols were transported to safer locations via boats.
The committee had also identified Kapileswarpur, the native village of Atibadi poet Jagannath Das, near Puri, Gadakokal near Brahmagiri and Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district of having close links to the Jagannath culture.
Subsequently, the SJTA had organised a workshop on these religious sites November 14, 2017. The temple administration had sent the replica of Srimandir idols and the Patitapaban flags to some of these places, sources said.
Puri MLA Maheswar Mohanty, during his tenure as Culture Minister, had also constituted a panel to develop all places that hosted the deities. However, the state government and the temple administration are yet to take any concrete steps in this regard.
“The state government should take immediate steps to develop the 15 places that had close links with the Lord. These sites can be recognised as heritage places. The government should facilitate fresh research on these 15 sites,” said noted researcher on Jagannath culture Surendra Kumar Mishra.
SJTA administrator (rituals) Pradip Kumar Das said the temple administration has been touch with all the religious places having association with the Srimandir. “We have provided two chariot wheels to two such sites near Chilika Lake. The temple administration is taking steps to develop these sacred places,” he added.
PNN
