Replicating Faith

Speaking more about the project president of the Utkal Samaj,Amulyakumar Bal,says,“Our main aim was to unite the one lakh plus people from the state of Orissa who stay in the city so that they could do some community service for the citizens of the city. As a result of which we decided to build a replica of the Jagannath temple here for everyone.”

“One acre of land for the temple was donated by Prashant Chordia,who is one of the directors of the Panchsheel Group of Companies. The current temple site is in Undri and is two kilometers from the Undri Octroi Post. We also plan to procure around another four-five acres of land to build other multipurpose complexes for use by the temple devotees. Also in addition to the main temple we will be building six temples alongside the main temple,which will house other deities,” he adds.

Laxman Kumar Tripathi the general secretary of the Utkal Samaj says,“The six temples are the Parvati temple,the Laxmi Temple,the Navgraha temple,the Hanuman Temple,the Ganesh Temple and the Shiv Temple. In addition to this the Bhoomi Puja for the main temple of Lord Jagannath will take place on Sunday April 19. The construction of the main temple will take around five to six years,but in the meanwhile we will construct a makeshift temple,which will be ready by November this year. However as soon as the temple is ready the regular Poojas and other rituals that are carried out in the original temple in Puri will be carried out everyday here.”

“The total cost of the construction of the temple will be around six crores and the temple will be constructed in stone,which will especially be bought in from Rajasthan. The temple will be constructed in an Indo Aryan (Orissan) style,and workers who specialise in this style of architecture will be bought in from Orissa to perform the job. In addition to all the temples a sanctuary,an assembly hall,a dancing hall,and an offering hall will also be constructed,” adds Bal.

“Four priests from Orissa have specially come down for the Bhoomi Pooja,which will take place today. There will also be a special Jag Gyaan Havan performed by them after which he construction will begin on the day of Akshay Trithiya. Once completed the entire complex will house close to 6000 devotees at one time. Also in addition to the temple we also will be building a charitable hospital,a hostel and an educational complex for the people of the city. The temple will be open to everyone and see the programmes of the original temple,including the Rath Yatra being replicated here,” says Tripathi.