BHUBANESWAR: Repair and renovation of both the chambers of the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri may take close to three months.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said this would be the minimum time required given the nature of work, daily rituals and movement of devotees inside the shrine. The Odisha chapter of ASI has written to the DG ASI on the requirement for repair and renovation of the Ratna Bhandar.
The work revolves around the replacement of damaged beams on the roof and consolidation of the cracks on the walls. The beams in the Ratna Bhandar, which is a later addition to the 12th century shrine, are made of wrought iron. Some of the beams in both the chambers have been entirely damaged and there’s a stone hanging from one of them, said Ratna Bhandar inventorisation and preservation committee chairman Justice Biswanath Rath.
ASI officials said as a part of the conservation work, the wrought iron beams on the roof and corbel arch will be replaced with stainless steel beams, like it has been done in case of the temple’s Natya Mandap conservation. Besides, for consolidation of the vertical cracks, the damaged walls in the chambers will be de-plastered for cleaning, grouting and pointing. A few months back, ASI had repaired the outer structure of Ratna Bhandar and filled up the cracks, which has stopped water seepage into the Ratna Bhandar.
A conservationist in the panel said ASI can complete the work in three months if its archaeologists and structural engineers are provided a minimum of five hours to work inside the Ratna Bhandar every day. “But there are a lot of issues which need to be taken care of while the conservation work is undertaken or before that. Since the Ratna Bhandar is located within the Garbha Gruha (sanctum sanctorum), there will be movement of servitors for daily rituals and devotees for darshan. There can be no dust during the work because that could cause inconvenience to both the servitors and the devotees. Besides, there can be no dust or noise during the rituals. So the timing and number of hours every day for the repair work needs to be fixed accordingly,” he said.
Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan told mediapersons that the ASI will do a preliminary investigation of the Ratna Bhandar in a day or two. “Only after preliminary examination, it will be clear if there is a need for laser scanning of both the chambers or not,” he said.
Amidst rumours of presence of a secret tunnel and more chambers in the Ratna Bhandar, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb had on July 18 said that to trace any tunnels or chambers, ASI may resort to laser scanning.
Things to be done
Damaged beams on roof to be replaced, cracks on walls consolidated
Stainless steel beams to replace wrought iron beams on roof, corbel arch
Damaged walls in the chambers to be de-plastered
ASI to do preliminary investigation of the Ratna Bhandar in a day or two