On January 17, in a spectacular show of religiosity sprinkled with politics, the Srimandir Parikrama Project or Heritage Corridor built around the 12th century magnificent Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The 75-metre corridor is built entirely outside the temple premises around the ‘Meghnada Pacheri’ (outer wall), and has little to do with the mesmerising wooden figures of the three deities, however, the optics surrounding its inauguration almost mimics that of another grand ceremony — the Pran Pratishtha of the idols of Shri Ram in Ayodhya on January 22.
With elections just round the corner, Odisha goes for simultaneous polls this year, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is building a mythology around the Heritage Corridor while the BJP is doing the same in Ayodhya.
One of the four dhams established by Adi Shankaracharya, Jagannath Puri is home to millions of devotees across the world. Last year, for instance, the annual Ratha Yatra, attracted over one million devotees. However, like in many other pilgrim towns, the amenities available remained rudimentary with congested roads and many houses, mutts and ashrams dotting the Sri Mandir periphery.
Ranjan Kumar Das, the chief administrator of the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration, says, “Before the Parikrama project, encroachments had multiplied in the area adjacent to the temple. So much so that it was creating danger to the Meghnada Pacheri (outer wall) and even devotees were unable to do Pradakshina of the temple. Apart from that, the real aesthetic beauty of the Odisha’s architecture was not visible. To make sure that the same is visible to the public, and to ensure that the Meghanada Pacheri is not endangered and pilgrims get a good experience, the Parikrama project was envisioned”.
“The Srimandir Parikrama was conceived in 2019 and took off in November 2021,” said Das. Incidentally, Patnaik won a record fifth term in 2019. He is not a showman but is a silent believer, folding his hands in prayer whenever he crosses a temple.
Patnaik was present when the first servitor of Lord Jagannath and titular king of Puri, Dibya Singha Deb, laid the foundation stone of the Rs 900 crore-plus project in November 2021 following a three-day Yagya. And ever since, the Odisha government has pulled out all stops to ensure that the inauguration of the project is steeped with the metaphors of the cult of Lord Jagannath that has roots in every nook and cranny of the state and beyond.
The Heritage Corridor aims to provide an unobstructed view of the temple coupled with shelter pavilions, Jagannath culture centre, Raghunanda library, Badanga heritage streetscape, multilevel parking, Shree Setu, Sri Mandira Reception Centre and more.
Das said, “It will open up new vistas for the tourists and pilgrims. They will have a good experience. Many amenities have been created. Toilets, changing room, resting place, green corridor have been created, encroachments from Badadanda (village name) has been removed. AC corridor has been built for pilgrims to reduce exhaustion.”
VK Pandian, former civil servant and now BJD politician, is in charge of the ambitious re-imagining of the 900-year-old Jagannath Temple periphery.
The inauguration of the Heritage Corridor will not be a single day affair. Chief Temple Administrator Das says, “January 12-14 will be for preparations. There will be Yagya ceremonies on January 15-17. After 1.30 pm, the chief minister will inaugurate the project after the Gajapati (titular king Dibya Singh Deb) gives the Purnahuti (oblation), after that it will be open to the public”.
Giving a glimpse of the scale of the ceremony, Das said two temples from each district in Odisha and 60-65 more temples in India had been invited. The Shankaracharya of Puri was also invited but since he is busy with the Gangasagar Yatra, his attendance is yet to be confirmed. He, has, however, said he will try reach on time and give his blessings for the project. Apart from this, Odisha’s MLAs, MPs, other dignitaries, and key people across important sectors and state heads of political parties have also been extended invites to attend the ceremony.
Invites have been sent out by the Shri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee complete with betel nut and rice considered to be auspicious. As is the case in many auspicious ceremonies in Odisha, the three deities Lord Jagannath, Ma Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra were invited first by Ranjan Kumar Das. In fact, more than 30 teams were constituted to invite the various dignitaries.
The Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, Siddhivinayak Mandir in Mumbai, Sri Rameshwar Mandir in Madurai, the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Vaishno Devi in Jammu, Jagannath Mandir and Padmavati Mandir in Chennai, Chamundeshwari Mandir in Madhya Pradesh, Shirdi Temple in Shirdi, Omkareshwar temple in Indore and many others have already been invited.
A special team was also sent to Nepal to invite the king of Nepal. “We were expecting around 130 people and have received 96 confirmations so far. The process is till on. Almost 48 of the 65 temples outside Odisha have confirmed,” said Das.
The celebrations do not end on January 17. In a massive mobilisation exercise, the state government has organised an ‘Arpan Yatra’ (offering) from January 18. Teams have been sent out from each block to collect the offerings from the people and bring them to the Jagannath Temple. Offerings include betel nut, rice grain, coconut, tulsi leaves. “The purpose is to involve the whole of Odisha in this exercise,” said Das.
Sameer Mohanty, BJP’s former state president, said, “They are politicising the programme. They are using government money for party work. They have disbursed Rs 2.5 lakh to each panchayat. The panchayat executive officer is a government employee. That officer will take Arpana Raths around the panchayat. This is political work. As Ram Mandir event is on January 22, they have come up with this programme”.
When asked whether the BJP would attend the programme, Mohanty said the BJP is yet to receive any invite. “What is there to attend? When the foundation stone was laid, we did not attend. If the invitation comes, our president will consider it and take a call”. He reiterated that the BJD is using the taxpayers’ money for its own purpose “For Lord Jagannath, they are spending taxpayers’ money? And the Sarpanch and the party workers are operating the system”. He further said a block is a mini secretariat, preparing development work of the panchayat. When the block officers are busy with Arpana Rathas, the work of the public gets affected.
BJD MP Amar Patnaik, however, said that the Sri Mandir Parikrama Project was not a “religious” but a “cultural” project. “This is the recapturing of the cultural capital of Odisha, which is predominated by Lord Jagannath,” he said. He pointed to legendary devotees like Salabega, who was a Muslim, and Chaitanya, who was a Jain to underline that Lord Jagannath was the God of all religions and not just Hindus.
“With the Parikrama Project, the idea is not just to provide comfort to the pilgrims, but to enhance the spiritual experience, connect with the Almighty, have a better view, to be able to sit and mediate near the Meghanada Pacheri, which was impossible earlier,” he said.
When asked whether the BJD government’s aggressive push for Jagannath Heritage Corridor is Naveen Patnaik’s answer to PM Modi’s push of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the BJD MP pointed out that a cultural heritage project in Puri was part of the BJD’s 2019 manifesto. He also said apart from the Jagannath temple, attention and money have also been given to mosques and churches across Odisha, however, since the cult of Lord Jagannath towers above all, it has caught maximum attention.
Under the ‘Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha’ project, every village panchayat has been given Rs 50 lakh to revive the Jagannath culture in addition to those linked to the deities of the village.
The BJD is all set to blow the Conch (its symbol) for a record sixth term for Naveen Patnaik. Interestingly, the Maa Samaleswari temple in Sambalpur, Western Odisha, is also being renovated. Sindoor is being collected from villages, invites have been sent. Western Odisha was BJD’s Achilles’ heels in the 2019 assembly elections. This, and the inauguration of the Lower Suktel project, is expected to improve the party’s prospects in this year’s assembly elections. But for now, all eyes are on the inauguration of the Shree Mandira Parikrama Project — it is Patnaik’s answer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s embracing of the Ram Temple.
Political analysts believe the waves of Hinduvta from the banks of Ayodhya will break on the shores of Puri and the invisible feet of Lord Jagannath.
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