BHUBANESWAR: Raising concern over the safety of Ananta Vasudev temple - a 13th century protected shrine - the National Monument Authority (NMA) has recommended the State Government to shift the monument’s Rosaghara (kitchen) outside its prohibited area.
A similar suggestion was made to the government by Director General, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), V Vidyavathi during her visit to the State in February. She, too, had expressed concern over the threat to the monument from the fire and smoke emanating from the kitchen located just about 2.5 metres from the main shrine. Apart from the intricately carved temple walls, there are two rare inscriptions placed near the kitchen.
The NMA in its ‘no objection’ letter to Odisha Buildings and Constructions Corporation (OBCC), implementing agency for Ekamra Kshetra Heritage Development project, recommended that the kitchen located within the protected monument may be shifted to an appropriate location preferably in the regulated area to mitigate the adverse impact on the shrine.
Demands for shifting the kitchen have been made time and again by heritage conservationists for over a decade. There have been multiple occasions when the temple kitchen - previously a thatched roof structure which has now been replaced by asbestos - has caught fire from the wood used for cooking, the last instance being in 2018.
There are 20 huge chullahs (wood fired) in the kitchen and as many shops in the Ananda Bazaar of the temple where prasad is served and sold to devotees. Head of the Brahman Nijog Biranchi Narayan Pati said the kitchens are owned by 25 members of Suar Nijog but at least 700 Nijog members eke out living from the temple kitchen. They are involved in works like cooking, cutting vegetables, food preparation, supplying water and clay vessels, serving and selling food to devotees.
Conservationists said while ASI norms do not allow cooking ‘prasad’ in large quantities in such close proximity to the main shrine, the protected temple status has not deterred the sevayats from doing so.The 2018 fire had damaged the entire kitchen and main temple to some extent. Although State Government in 2013 asked Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to build a new kitchen for the temple at an alternative site, the idea was protested by the Suara Nijog and the plan was abandoned.
“We have been told that an Ananta Vasudev plaza will come up as a part of Ekamra Kshetra project which may house the kitchen and Ananda Bazaar. If the kitchen is shifted, the government should ensure that each of the 700 members who are dependent on this kitchen are not deprived of their earnings,” said Pati.