Devotee donates ornaments worth Rs 2.3cr to Puri Jagannath temple

On the occasion of ShreePanchami, a devotee of Lord Jagannath has donated speciallydesigned gold and silver ornaments, worth over Rs 2.33 crore,for the trinity of the 12th century shrine, Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA) in Puri said.

Weighing over 8 kg, the ornaments are made of gold(4.858 kg worth over Rs 2.30 crore) and silver (3.876 kgvalued at Rs 2.91 lakh) and will be used during specialrituals.

A representative of the devotee met the SJTA chiefadministrator Krishan Kumar and handed over the ornaments atthe temple office in the presence of some management committeemembers and other officials on Tuesday.

''The devotee has requested not to reveal his identityas he does not want publicity,'' Kumar said.

The gold jewellery included 'Jhoba' (middle part ofthe idol), 'Srimukha' (face) and 'Padma' (lotus) for the threedeities - Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.

The ornaments include 40 'Srimukha Padma' and two'Jhoba' for Lord Balabhadra, 53 'Srimukha Padma' and two'Jhoba' for Lord Jagannath and two 'Tadaki' and two 'Jhoba'for Devi Subhadra.

The ornaments were kept in the treasury of the templeoffice amid tight security.

The temple administration will later hand over thejewellery to the 'Bhandara Mekapa' (temple treasurer).

Earlier, a devotee from Bhubaneswar had donated'Surjya' (Sun) and 'Chandra' (Moon) ornaments for the deitiesof the Srimandir.

On January 10, a devotee had donated gold ornamentsweighing over 300 gm.