Bhubaneswar: As counting of precious ornaments and jewels in the Bahara Bhandar (outer treasury) of Sri Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar was completed on Saturday, the high-level committee, engaged for the task, found the number of jewellery has increased in comparison to the 1978 inventory. Three ornaments, however, were not found, which the high-level committee was told, were in the Bhitara (inner) Bhandar, whose counting is scheduled to begin from April 13.The chairman of the high-level committee, overseeing the Ratna Bhandar inventory, Justice Biswanath Rath, told TOI that the number of ornaments in the Bahara Bhandar has increased in comparison to the 1978 inventory, from 118 to 147. “These include both gold and silver ornaments. All the ornaments are in good condition and this has been verified by the temple’s Baniya sevayats who are a part of the inventory process,” Justice Rath said. On the day, all the ornaments in the Bahara Bhandar were counted except three. “This is because the Bhandar ‘mekap’ (servitor) could not provide the three ornaments, and we were told that the same are in the Bhitara Bhandar. These will be counted when Bhitara Bhandar inventory begins,” Justice Rath said. Temple’s chief administrator Aravind Padhee said that the inventory of the Bhitara Bhandar will begin from April 13, but the exercise will be suspended on April 14 owing to Maha Bishuba Sankranti. It will resume from April 16 and continue till April 18. Counting of the valuables in Bahara Bhandar began four days back. The counting continued for over seven hours each day and catalogued in presence of the committee members, goldsmiths of the temple, gemologists and Reserve Bank of India officials. All the items have been documented through digital photography, videography and 3D scanning. A digital catalogue of the valuables of Ratna Bhandar will be prepared, which will make things easier for inventory in future. In Ratna Bhandar, the precious items are classified in three categories — one never-used ornaments and jewels kept in the Bhitara Bhandar, second those used only during ceremonies or festive occasions, and third the daily-use ornaments of the three presiding deities. Categories two and three jewellery are kept in Bahara Bhandar and Chalanti Bhandar respectively. According to the last inventory of Ratna Bhandar by a nine-member committee, headed by then governor B D Sharma, from May 13 to July 23, 1978, there were 454 gold articles with a net weight of 12,838 bharis (one bhari is equivalent to 10g) and 293 silver articles weighing 22,153 bharis in both the Bahara and Bhitara chambers of the treasury. In Bahara Bhandar, the category two articles included 79 gold items of 8,175 bharis and 39 silver items of 4,671 bharis, while category three articles in Chalanti Bhandar comprised eight gold items of 299 bharis and 23 silver items of 2,693 bharis. The Bhitara Bhandar had 367 gold items weighing 4,364 bharis and 231 silver items weighing 14,878 bharis.
