BHUBANESWAR/PURI: Shankaracharya of Puri Gobardhan Peetha Neeschalananda Saraswati on Friday said that there is no need to change the name of Puri as it denotes Jagannath Dham. Jagannath Puri is known to the world as Puri and that is its uniqueness, the Shankaracharya told mediapersons. “I do not see any need to change the name of Puri Peetha to Jagannath Puri,” he added.
The Shankaracharya said all the seven dhams have a suffix Puri like Dwaraka Puri, Mathura Puri or Ayodhya Puri but Jagannath Puri (the 8th dham) is known as only Puri and symbolises Lord Jagannath which is significant in itself.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was at Puri here as part of live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kedarnath visit, however, supported the demand for renaming of Puri as Jagannath Puri.
There have been demands for the last several days from various organisations to rename Puri. He said that it would be ideal to change the name of Puri to Jagannath Puri. Pradhan also had a darshan of the Shankaracharya during the visit and took his blessings.
Rajesh Kumar Mohanty, secretary of Sri Srikshetra Soochana said that Puri is generally known as Jagannath Puri everywhere. Stating that Puri was known as Jagannath Puri in many Puranas which are centuries-old, he said that starting from Jayadev’s Geeta Govinda to 1823 gazetteer, the town is mentioned as Jagannath Puri. A meeting of the organisation was held at Puri recently in which representatives of more than 30 organisations including saints, sevayats and intellectuals attended.
He said that it was decided unanimously to submit memoranda containing all these facts to the Puri Collector, MP, all MLAs from the district, Chief Minister, Governor and Prime Minister demanding renaming of the town. A committee of the organisation will soon visit different villages to create awareness about the demand and lobby with the State government for changing the name. Meanwhile, pushing for their demand the members of Jagannath Sena said renaming of pilgrim town should begin with railway station.