BHUBANESWAR /PURI: Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on Monday urged the authorities of Jagannath temple at Digha in West Bengal to desist from naming the shrine as ‘Jagannath Dham’ or ‘Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre’.
Names such as ‘Jagannath Dham’, ‘Purushottama Kshetra’, ‘Shreekshetra’ and ‘Neelachala Dham’ refer to Puri and cannot be used for any other place where ‘Chaturdha Daru Vigrahas’ (four wooden idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra, and Lord Sudarshan) have been consecrated, said the Puri king in a release.
Following the Digha temple controversy, Deb, who is the chairman of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, sought the opinion of the Mukti Mandap Pandit Sabha of Srimandir on the matter. According to the Mukti Mandap, the ‘moola peetha’ of Shree Jagannath Mahaprabhu is Puri, also called Purushottama Kshetra, he said.
Refering to ‘Shree Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmyam’ contained in ‘Vishnava Khanda’ of Skanda Purana by Maharshi Veda Vyasa, the Gajapati said a plain reading of the scripture will leave no doubt that it is only Puri which can be called as Shree Jagannath Dham and not any other place or temple because Puri is the eternal holy abode of the Lord. Also, Brahma Purana, Neeladri Mahodaya and other sacred scriptures conclusively establish that Puri is the abode of Lord Jagannath.
“As stated in Padma Purana, it is the sacred eternal abode of the Lord that is called as dham and not any other place or temple. This has also been acknowledged by the founder acharyas of various sampradayas of Sanatana Vaidika Dharma,” he wrote.
Amidst reports of stone idols of the Trinity being worshipped in the Jagannath temple and ‘prasad’ being termed as ‘mahaprasad’ at Digha, Deb said Mukti Mandap Pandit Sabha has also stated that the ‘Chaturdha Vigrahas’ should only be worshipped in ‘daru’ (wooden) form and not in images made of metal or stone. Besides, only the ‘naivedya’ offered in Srimandir can be called as Mahaprasad.
He said temples of Lord Jagannath around the world should honour and uphold the glorious heritage of the Lord having regard to the proclamations in sacred scriptures and age-old traditions of the ‘moola peetha’ Srimandir in Puri. “Dishonour or disrespect to time-honoured traditions and heritage of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath will hurt the religious sentiments of countless devotees around the world,” the Gajapati added.