BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government’s plan to redevelop Puri and transform the vicinity of Sri Jagannath Temple is a momentous decision. Yet, the colossal significance of Lord Jagannath for Odias and Hindu religion as a whole requires that the Government - while putting into action its plans - must factor into the civilisational heritage it encompasses. This demands that each element of this syncretic religious system is carefully saved for posterity.
Puri Collector Balwant Singh’s announcement on Saturday evening that the administration would not demolish temples and seats of deities in the mutts and steps will be initiated to strengthen these structures and their heritage should have come a little earlier, much before apprehensions were raised. But that is where the State Government must not stop. It should not be lost on the administration that every mutt that enjoyed a unique relationship with the shrine and the deities has its well-deserved space in the spiritual, historical and cultural heritage of the State. So have numerous other religious structures.
The Jagannath Culture is the most evolved because it is the most harmonious too. It represents the highest form because it is accepted by every sectarian faith and system of Hinduism yet has never been influenced.
That calls for its preservation more than anything else. It is one thing – and completely understandable - to create infrastructure in Puri to give the millions of devotees that throng the pilgrim town a complete religious experience but quite another to conserve what the Jagannath Dhama stands for. If its sanctity in terms of the ancient religious establishments carrying immense heritage value is not protected, much of it would be lost forever. The centuries old mutts stand exactly for that.
Conservation architecture can be the solution that the Government is looking for. Is not Sun Temple at Konark an example of it? There has to be a middle path.The State Government must not compromise on its plans to widen the road and bring down illegal structures and encroachments around the Puri temple but should not send the priceless structures to a modern museum where it would only have tourism value.
Puri as an ancient seat of Hinduism deserves more because ‘demolition’ does not sit well with its priceless heritage.