Puri, July 14: The Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri opened today for the inventory of the gems and jewelleries.
After offering prayers Lord Loknath, who is believed to be the Chief Protector of Ratna Bhandar, the 15-member team dressed in traditional attires entered the 12th century shrine at 12 PM and opened started process to open the treasury trove at 1:28 PM.
They also offered prayers to to Maa Bimala and Maa Lakshmi.
The process commenced with the opening of outer chamber followed by the opening of the inner chamber. Thereafter, the process to transfer the ornaments from the treasury to a safer place began.
As many as six temporary ‘Sindukas’ (chests) have been brought to the temple. These chests would be utilized for safe storage of the Lord’s gold & silver ornaments with gems and jewels, which will be retrieved from the inner treasure trove.
A total of 15 platoons of police were mobilized around the 12th-century shrine to ensure law and order situation.
Earlier today, Biswanath Rath, the chairman of the Ratna Bhandar monitoring committee, had informed that the auspicious time for the opening of Ratna Bhandar, which was last opened in 1978, is 1:28 PM.
