The Ratna Bhandar, the revered treasury of the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri, was reopened on Thursday for the second time in a week for shifting of valuables to a temporary strong room, officials said.
The treasury was reopened at 9.51 am, they said. After offering prayers before Lord Jagannath and his siblings, the members of a supervisory committee set up by the Odisha government for the shifting of valuables from the Ratna Bhandar, entered the temple around 9 am.
Speaking to media persons before entering the temple, the supervising committee’s chairman and Orissa High Court former judge Justice Biswanath Rath said, “We sought the blessings of Lord Jagannath for smooth completion of shifting of all valuables stored inside the inner chamber of the treasury.”
Last time, the treasury was opened on July 14 after 46 years. On that day, the ornaments and valuables of the outer chamber of the Ratna Bhandar were shifted to a strong room.