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Journalism of Courage
Servitors of the Jagannath Temple in Puri have warned members of their community against participating in any rituals that are held at a new replica of the 12th century shrine that was opened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the seaside town of Digha on Akshaya Tritiya.
Several culture researchers and senior servitors of the Puri Temple have also questioned use of the word ‘Dham’ for the temple by the West Bengal government.
The new temple has been built at a cost of Rs 250 crore on a 24-acre plot in Digha in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, about 350 km from Puri. Like the Puri Temple, the Digha temple is dedicated to Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Goddess Mahalaxmi.
The 213-foot-high temple is a replica of the world famous Puri Temple, and has been built in sandstone in the Kalingan architectural style. The project was announced in 2019, and construction began in May 2022, supervised by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation.
‘Original’ question
Servitors’ groups like the Suar Mahasuar nijog, which prepares the bhog in the Puri Temple, and the Puspalaka nijog, which dresses the deities daily, put up notices asking servitors not to participate in any rituals at the Digha temple.
Padmanava Mahasuar, president of the Suar Mahasuar nijog, told The Indian Express that while they welcomed the inauguration of the temple in Digha and would even like devotees to visit it, the traditional rituals of the original Temple should not be copied in the new one.
Performing these same rituals in Digha – and at other Jagannath temples in the country – would dilute the significance of the Puri Temple, he argued.
The consecration ceremony on April 30 was attended by a senior servitor (daitapati) of the Puri Temple Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, and servitors from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Radharaman Das, vice president of ISKCON, said that non-Hindus and foreigners would be allowed to enter the Digha shrine – a break from the centuries-old but mostly unexplained practice of allowing only Hindus in Puri.
Use of word ‘Dham’
The West Bengal government’s use of the word ‘Dham’ (seat) and a picture of the Nilachakra (metal wheel atop the Puri Temple) in its advertisements for the Digha temple have also been questioned.
Daitapati Ramachandra Dasmohapatra of the Puri Temple pointed out that there are only four dhams in Hinduism – Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram. Also, this senior servitor said, the idols at the Digha temple are made of stone, which cannot be the case with Lord Jagannath.
“According to Hindu tradition, Lord Jagannath is Daru Brahma, and He is never made of stone. Daru is wood, and Brahma is the supreme power. The idols are made of neem wood,” Dasmohapatra said.
Economic concerns
A significant concern of the Puri servitors is believed to be the possibility of the Digha temple emerging as a competitor to Puri for Bengali tourists and devotees.
A large chunk of visitors to Odisha comes from West Bengal – as per the Odisha government’s Statistical Bulletin 2023, of the 97.25 lakh domestic tourists who visited the state that year, the largest number, 13.59 lakh, or almost 14%, were from Bengal. The share of Bengalis in tourist arrivals in Odisha was roughly the same in 2022 and 2021 as well.
While there are concerns over the possible impact of lower tourist footfall on the hotel and tourism industry, a leading tour operator said the enormous significance of the Jagannath Temple in Puri cannot be discounted.
“Digha can’t as yet match the tourist infrastructure of Puri and other places like Konark, Chilika and Bhubaneswar,” Yugabrata Kar, the tour operator, said. “However”, he added, “there may be an impact in the long run if the Odisha government does not focus on enhancing the experience of devotees at the Puri Temple and making darshan hassle-free.”
