Jagannath idols stolen from Shri Jagannath temple

Jagat · November 13, 2001

<h2>Jagannath idols stolen from Shri Jagannath temple</h2>

The Pioneer Sunday, November 11, 2001

Puri (Agencies) - 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 Shri 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 Shri 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.

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paul108 · November 16, 2001

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=109944528

Monkey helps police recover idol

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IMRAN KHAN

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<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/images/alphabets/B.gif> HUBANESWAR: A monkey, reportedly, played a key role in recovering the astadhatu idol of Madan Mohan, one of the two idols stolen from the Jagannath temple in Puri, Monday morning. Police sources said it was a monkey that led the search partly to the well in which the idol was found. "The monkey behaved differently. It led the team to the well where the idol was found," sources said.

At a time when the police team was frantically searching every nook of the 13th century Jagannath temple complex for the idol, the money kept raising its hand and making different sounds to attract the attention of the officer supervising the search operation, the sources said.

Initially, the official ignored the monkey's gestures.

However, after some time, out of sheer curiosity the official went near the monkey, which raised its hands and pointed towards a well. Taking cue, the police pumped out water from the well to find the idol lying at the bottom.

The temple's priests reportedly offered fruits to the monkey as a reward for his noble job.

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