Makhana-cora gets stolen Himself

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Jagannath idols stolen from Sri Jagannath temple

Agencies/Puri

 

Close on the heels of the burglary at the 11th century Lingaraj temple at

Bhubaneswar a week ago, miscreants stole two idols including that of lord

Madan Mohan from the Sri Jagannath temple here early Sunday, police said.

 

The two feet high 'ashtadhatu' (eight metal) idol, regarded as the

representative of lord Jagannath, was found missing when sevayats came to

open the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine at dawn Sunday.

 

The silver idol of Narayani -- considered the deity of the new moon day --

was also untraceable, temple administration sources said.

 

The "ratna bhandar" of the temple, where huge quantities of precious

jewellery and ornaments of the deities were kept, was found to be safe,

the sources said.

 

Police, however, described the act as a definite attempt to rob the "ratna

bhandar" which had failed.

 

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, revenue and law minister Biswabhushan

Harichandan and senior police officials have rushed here from Bhubaneswar

to take stock of the situation.

 

The temple administrator, Bhabani Shankar Panda said that the lock on a

side entrance of the sanctum sanctorum, inside which the deities of

Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are kept on the 'ratna simhasan' had

been found broken.

 

The thieves had also broken locks of two offices within the temple complex

but no valuables were kept there.

 

The morning rituals of the deities were delayed due to the incident as the

idol of Madan Mohan was associated with all rituals of the shrine.

 

Even the 'mangala arati' supposed to commence at 5.00 am, had not begun

till noon, temple sources said.

 

The sources said the 'mukti mandap', the highest policy making body of the

temple, was being consulted to find a way out to commence the rituals.

Police had sealed the sanctum sanctorum even as thousands of people

thronged the temple to have "darshan" of the deities on the occasion of

'ekadasi' day in the auspicious Oriya month of Kartika Sunday.

 

Temple sources said as per tradition, three sevayats -- 'mudra sevak',

'muduli' and 'talachhua mahapatra' -- had locked and sealed different

gates of the main temple after the last ritual of 'pahuda' (sleeping of

the deities) was completed.

 

After that the temple was cleared of all visitors at around 2.00 am. Early

in the morning, when some sevayats went inside to open the door, they

found it open with the lock smashed. The police was then informed.

 

On Monday night, thieves had stolen about ten kg of silver ornaments, some

gold and four costly saris of goddess Parvati from the 11th century

Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar. Police was yet to make any breakthrough in

the case.

 

According to official sources, one havildar and eight constables of state

police had been deployed at different places inside the temple complex

last night. Besides, three personnel of Jagannath temple police were also

on duty near the 'beherana dwar' inside the shrine.

 

Sevayats, stunned over the development, described the burglary from the

sri Jagannath temple on the 'ekadasi' day as "a bad omen for the state".

The miscreants had also struck at the Lingaraj temple on Monday night,

considered an auspicious day, they said. The Orissa police and the temple

police are responsible for the security of the shrine, the maintenance of

which has been entrusted to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

 

The shrine, besides the sanctum sanctorum, comprised of over thirty

smaller temples within its sprawling premises. Even as the pilgrim city --

also a magnificent sea resort police had sealed all entry and exit points

from the city.