After remaining locked up for as many as 46 years, the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) of the 12th century Puri Jagannath temple was reopened for conservation work of the medieval era structure and inventory of valuables on Sunday afternoon under the stewardship of a 16-member committee headed by former judge of Orissa High Court, Justice Biswanath Rath.

The Bhandar was last opened for inspection and inventorisation of valuables in 1978. A huge controversy had erupted as the key of the inner chamber was found to be missing in 2018 when the Orissa High Court ordered an inspection. However the new BJP Government had reconstituted the committee headed by the retired High Court Judge Justice Rath.

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The BJD Government on 29 February last year had constituted a 12-member committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat for supervision of inventorisation of the valuables including jewelleries stored in the Ratna Bhandar.

The members of the committee reconstituted by the Odisha government made their way to the revered shrine. As the doors of the Bhandar could not be reopened by the available key, the lock was broken in the presence of committee members.

The previous BJD government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the non-availability of keys of the Ratna Bhandar on June 5, 2018 as the mysterious disappearance of treasure keys had triggered a furore. The inquiry commission report was however, kept under the wraps by the previous government. The ‘missing key’ controversy was capitalised by the BJP in Odisha to put the previous government on back foot in 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

“On the wish of Lord Jagannath, the Odia community, with the identity of ‘Odia Asmita’, has started making efforts to move forward,” the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said in a post on X platform.

“On your wish, the four gates of the Jagannath temples were earlier opened. Today, on your wish, the Ratna Bhandar was opened after 46 years for a greater purpose,” stated the CMO in the post, which was shared at 1.28 pm, the auspicious moment decided to reopen the treasury.

The reopening of the temple treasure trove will pave the way for maintenance and repair work of the structure by the Archaeological Survey of India. Besides, the inventory of the treasures will be done.

The Ratna Bhandar comprises outer and inner chambers. While the outer chamber is used for storage of the day-to-day ornaments of the deities – Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra, the inner chamber is earmarked for storage of precious gold jewelry, gems, pearls and rare diamonds apart from silver and other decorative items of the temple’s three presiding deities which are not used for deities’ daily rituals.