Ranchi, July 3 :     Thousands of devotees from South Bihar thronged the nearly 350-year-old Jagannathpur temple here today to witness the Rathyatra. However, the descendants of former Maharaja of Barkagarh Estate, Ranchi, and hero of the 1857 war of Independence Thakur Bishwanath Shahdeo and the Jagannathpur Temple Nyas Samity are fighting for control of temple rights. In a letter to the Bihar Religious Nyas Samity, Patna, the descendants of the Maharaja claimed that the temple, founded by Maharaja Anne Nath Shahdeo in 1650, was a part of the Barkagarh Estate which was seized by the British from Bishwanath Shahdeo for rebelling against the Empire in 1857. They alleged that though they were the rightful sevayats by birth, they had been kept outside the Jagannathpur Nyas Samity. On the other hand, the present samity members claimed that the temple was formed as a public trust in 1650 and as such could not be treated as a personal property of the Shahdeo family. A spokesman for the Thakur Bishwanath Shahdeo Trust, Lal Prabir Nath Shahdeo, said of the 92 villages of the Maharaja's estate seized by the British, the Jagannathpur village housing the Jagannath temple was later released and given to the Maharaja's descendants though the remaining 91 villages continued to be in the possession of the state. Prabir Shahdeo said in 1933, the then deputy commissioner of Ranchi, in his order number N/141/R27A/1932-33, had upheld the rights of the Shahdeo family, conferring the rights of sevayats on the then head of the Shahdeo family Thakur Devendranath Shahdeo. Till the death of Thakur Devendranath Shahdeo in 1975, the rights of the temple continued to be held by the Shahdeo family. But after his death, certain people, including the temple priest, conspired to oust the Shahdeo family from the temple and even usurped the role of sevayats of the temple, he alleged. Prabir Shahdeo said the Jagannathpur Temple Nyas Samity at present did not contain any of the legal descendants of the founder of the temple. He alleged that since the formation of the Nyas Samity, plunder of precious temple artefacts have been rampant with a number of antique idols and stone structures either removed or destroyed. Prabir Shahdeo said a conspiracy had been hatched to pull down the entire temple and to construct a new one in its place to destroy all historical evidence. He said they had set up a parallel committee to protect the temple and prevent any further destruction. However, representatives of the Jagannathpur Temple Trust, in a souvenir, claimed that Maharaja Anna Nath Shahdeo had set up the temple as a public trust in 1650.