The Jagannath Temple in Puri has begun a court-mandated audit of its vast treasury of gold, diamonds, and jewelled ornaments, the first in over four decades. The 12th-century temple's Ratna Bhandar (treasury) was opened on March 25, with a team of experts, including goldsmiths, gemmologists, and temple servitors, verifying the ornaments against a nearly 50-year-old register.
The inventory process will cover three distinct categories of treasure, including the Chalanti Ratna Bhandar, the outer, movable treasury, and the Bhitara Ratna Bhandar, the inner chamber, which holds the temple's original and most ancient valuables.
A six-member supervising committee, including noted sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, will oversee operations, while a handling committee will assist in identifying and authenticating ornaments. Every item will be assigned a unique serial number, logged in both paper registers and digital systems, and digitised using three-dimensional mapping technology.
The last audit of the valuables was carried out in 1978, and successive committees have urged a detailed verification of the ornaments, but the exercise has been repeatedly postponed. The Ratna Bhandar's contents have long been the subject of speculation, legal petitions, and political controversy in Odisha.
