(From top) Sharan Srikhetra Jagannath temple at Marda village in Ganjam and the empty pedestal of the temple, the Aruna Stamba broken into pieces and the mural paintings on the inner walls of the temple.Telegraph pictures

Berhampur, Sept. 18: Sharan Srikhetra Jagannath temple at Marda village in Ganjam district, about 50-km from here, was the safe abode of the three deities of Jagannath temple Puri 276 years ago.

Lord Jagannath and his siblings had been shifted to the Marda temple, to protect them from attacks of foreign invaders. But today, the temple is lying unsafe and completely neglected.

Though there is no deity in the temple now, the rituals are performed sincerely by the priests in front of the empty pedestal for more than 200 years. “The temple was the safe abode of the three deities of Jagannath temple, Puri, who took shelter there for 28 months from December, 1733, to April, 1736, when their original home was targeted by invader Taki Khan, who died in 1736.

The erstwhile king of Puri Gajapati Ramchandra Dev brought these deities secretly from Puri to Marda village in Athagada estate since it is considered a secluded place. Masons of nearby Mathura village worked day and night and within two months constructed the temple that is an epitome of architectural grandeur of medieval Odisha. About 300 armed paika’s or soldiers of Athagada estate guarded the deities day and night,” said 56-year-old Hrushikesh Panda, a priest of the temple.

Even after the deities returned to Puri in 1736, the erstwhile king of Athagadapatna, Jagannath Harichandan, had preferred to keep the temple without the deities, to preserve the memory of this great event.

“The entire incident has been recorded in the Madala Panji of Jagannath temple, Puri, and Muslim record Riaz-Aj-Saltan,” said one of the local residents.

The temple was constructed using stones of nearby Hatibari mountain in the form of a replica of the Gundicha temple of Puri. From a distance, the temple looks like a small hill. However, the monument is crumbling down slowly.

“The temple has developed cracks at many places now and rain water leaks from there. It needs urgent repair,” said Panda.

The water of Ganga-Jamuna well in the precinct used to prepare the food for the deities has silted up. Bimala temple and the temple of Maha Lakshmi are in total ruins. The Aruna Stamba (sacred pillar) has crumbled into pieces. The main door of the temple was stolen long ago. “Someone had set fire to the patta paintings of the deities said the priest.

“The temple definitely got some respite after the visit of a 12-member team of the Puri Sri Jagannath Temple administration which explored the historical links of the deities with other places of the state and outside to revive the ancient sites during March 2007. Construction of the 3km approach road to the temple from the Berhampur-Polsara main road was undertaken by the district administration immediately,” he said.

“But the biggest problem is drinking water since the Ganga Jamuna well has now completely dried up. Also, land mafias have swindled about 1,000 bharana of land belonging to this temple in and around Marda,” added Panda.