Bhubaneswar, May 2: Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Friday ordered the Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration (SJTA), Puri to initiate a probe into the controversy surrounding the newly built Jagannath Temple at Digha in West Bengal.

In a letter written to Arabinda Kumar Padhee, the Chief Administrator of SJTA, Harichandan said that confusing reports regarding the temple of Lord Jagannath have been doing rounds on various media outlets for the past few days.

He also expressed displeasure over reports regarding calling the Jagannath Temple at Digha in West Bengal as 'Jagannath Dham' and the making of idols in the Digha Temple from surplus remainder sacred Daru (the sacred Neem trees) used in the making of the wooden images of Sudarsana, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath at the 12th century shrine in Puri during the Nabakalebara rituals or periodical renewal of the images of deities held in 2015.

“The construction of Lord Jagannath temple at Digha, the name of the temple being written as ‘Jagannath Dham’, Sevayats (servitors) from here (Puri) taking part in consecration of that temple and the Idols being made from the surplus sacred Daru, etc are completely unacceptable and it seems hurting the sentiments of devotees of Lord Jagannath and the 4.5 crore Odisha people,” wrote Harichandan.

“The temple administration should take steps to bring the truth before the people by conducting an internal investigation on this entire episode. If anyone is found guilty in this incident or is knowingly involved in the incident, then provisions can also be made to punish them with the permission of the state government,” the Law Minister further added.

Notably, the mentioning of Digha Temple as ‘Jagannatha Dham’ has sparked outrage among the devotees, servitors of Lord Jagannath and experts on Jaggannath culture in Odisha claiming that this would create confusion among the devotees.

They claimed that there are traditionally only four Dhams in Hinduism.

The situation further escalated following an interview of a senior Daitapati servitor from Puri Jagannath Temple, who participated in the inauguration of the Digha Jagannath Temple.

The servitor during an interview with a local Bengali media outlet allegedly claimed that he had made the idols of deities in Digha Temple from the surplus Daru or the sacred Neem Trees used for making of the deities in Puri during the Nabakalebara held in 2015.

However, the servitor in a press conference on Friday denied making any such comments and claimed that his views were misrepresented by the media.

It is pertinent here to mention that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the Jagannath temple in the seaside town of Digha in West Bengal on April 30. This temple built at a cost of Rs 250 crore project spreads over 20 acres of land.

--IANS

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