Bhuvaneshwar6 minutes ago
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The Jagannath Temple was inaugurated by Mamata Banerjee on 30 April at Digha in East Medinipur district of West Bengal. The temple is named ‘Jagannath Dham’.
Odisha’s Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan on Friday asked the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to investigate the case amidst the Digha temple dispute of the West Bengal government.
It was revealed in media reports that the servants of Puri Jagannath Temple attended the ceremony of Digha temple. He gave the temple left from the 2015 Navkalevar to make the idols.
Navkalevar is a ritual every 12 or 19 years. In this, wooden sculptures of Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Jagannath are replaced in the temple of Puri.
Apart from this, priests, devotees, scholars and pundits have also objected to the Digha temple being called the ‘Jagannath Dham’ of the West Bengal government.
The minister wrote in his letter, “This incident has hurt the religious sentiments of devotees and 4.5 crore people of Odisha.”
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reached Digha on 29 April to join Mahayagya.
Statues went from Puri for Digha temple
The charge of giving wood to the Digha temple is accused of Ramakrishna Dasamohpatra, secretary of Daityapati Nijog, a group of servants serving God in the Rath Yatra.
In the case, Dasmohpatra said, ‘I went to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the invitation of my disciple Mamata Banerjee. But I never said that the wood of Puri temple was used to make an idol in Digha.
At a press conference in Puri, Dasmohpatra said, ‘I told the officials of Digha temple that the stone idols of Lord Jagannath cannot be worshiped. After this, I took a neem wood statue from here for the life-prestige ceremony.
He said, ‘I have not talked to any television channel about this. I have not told anything about the establishment of Brahma. I have not placed any such material on the idol. I monitored the prescribed procedures during the puja.
‘Brahma’ is a substance which is considered the soul of Lord Jagannath. It is removed from the old statue and installed in the new statue during the Navakalevar ritual. Dasmohpatra also demanded the removal of the word Dham from the Digha Jagannath temple.