Servitors of the Puri Jagannath temple and eminent personalities from Odisha have expressed strong opposition to the renaming of the Digha Jagannath temple as “Jagannath Dham”.
The Puri servitors feel that this move is an apparent attempt to discourage Bengali devotees from visiting Puri, a strategy they argue is unlikely to succeed. The servitors also targeted the fellow servitors who attended the inauguration ceremony of the Digha Jagannath temple.
The Odisha government on Friday asked the Puri Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to launch a probe into the involvement of the Puri temple servitors in different rituals of the Digha Jagannath Temple.
In a letter to the chief administrator of SJTA, law minister Prithviraj Harichandan said: “There has been discussions going on about servitors from Puri joining the inaugural function of the Digha Jagannath temple, the Digha temple being named as Jagannath Dham and the idols at the Digha temple being carved from the Daru Brahma, a special type of neem wood used for the construction of Jagannath idols during the Nabakalebara in 2015. It has hurt the sentiments of Jagannath devotees and 4.5 crore Odia people, The temple administration has been directed to conduct an internal inquiry into the issue. If anyone is found guilty, action will be taken against them following the approval of the state government.”
Rama Krushna Das Mohapatra, a senior servitor who had gone along with 60 servitors to participate in rituals related to the inauguration of the Digha temple, said: “Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is my disciple. On her request, I went to Digha for the inauguration ceremony. Earlier, they had installed idols sculpted from stone. I had told them that the rituals could not be conducted on stone idols. Later, I took idols from Puri made up of neem wood. I will appeal to Mamata Banerjee not to name Digha as Jagannath Dham. At the same time, I will urge the Shree Jagannath Temple administration and the Odisha government to take up the issue with the Bengal government.”
He refuted the allegations that the idols were carved from Daru Brahma, a special type of neem wood used for the construction of Jagannath idols during the Nabakalebara in 2015.
Odisha deputy chief minister K.V. Singh Deo said: “There are only four Dhams, and Jagannath Dham in Puri is one of them. How far is it justified to rename Digha as Jagannath Dham?”
Former member of the Puri Temple Management Committee and eminent sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik also said: “There are only four Dhams — Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, Jagannath in Puri, Badrinath in Uttarakhand, and Dwarka in Gujarat. The temple inaugurated in Digha can not be Jagannath Dham. My humble request to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to immediately order not to call it Jagannath Dham as it hurts the sentiments of devotees of Lord Jagannath.”
He has written a letter to Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi in this regard.
Pattnaik, in his letter, said: “According to our sacred scriptures (Shastras), there exists only one Jagannath Dham, which is located in Puri, Odisha. Associating any other temple with the title ‘Jagannath Dham’ may lead to religious confusion and contradict long-standing spiritual and Hindu cultural traditions.”
He further said: “A few Sevayats from Puri have reportedly claimed that Brahma (the life force) is being established in the stone idol of Mahaprabhu Jagannath at the Digha temple. This is a highly sensitive matter, as the concept of Brahma in Mahaprabhu Jagannath’s idol is a deeply sacred and unique aspect of the original Shri Jagannath temple at Puri, tied to centuries of tradition and ritual secrecy.”
In his letter, Pattnaik urges that this matter be thoroughly investigated and clarified, specifically, what is meant by “Brahma” in this context and the usage of the word ‘Jagannath Dham’. “During the Nabakalebara in 2015, public suspicion arose regarding the Brahma Parivartan ritual and an official inquiry was conducted. However, the findings of that inquiry were never made public,” he said.
Senior servitor Ramachandra Das Mohapatra said: “The attempt to demean Puri is not acceptable.”
Chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple, Arabinda Kumar Padhee, said: “Puri is one of the four Dhams according to the scriptures. I will not comment more on this issue. Here, Jagannath is known as Daru Brahma.”
He was referring to the idol made from neem wood. During the Naba Kalebara, which occurs every 12 or 19 years, new idols are placed and the Brahma (life force) is transferred from the old idols to the new ones. Later, the old idols are given samadhi or burial.
Jagannath Sena, an organisation working to conserve Jagannath culture, has also objected to the move. “There are many Jagannath temples all across the globe. We don’t have any objection, but naming Digha as Jagannath Dham won’t be acceptable to us.”
Puri depends on Bengali devotees. The Jagannath culture is also linked to Bengalis. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 15th century saint from Bengal, had come and stayed in Puri. No one can divert the Bengali devotees from Puri. They will come and we will continue to give them our due atithya (hospitality),” said Priyadarshana Patnaik, convener of Jagannath Sena.
