Puri: One among the Char Dham, the famous Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri will remain closed today (August 23) after 1 pm. The Srimandir will remain closed for public darshan as the articles and valuables of Ratna Bhandar will be shifted to the house near the Niladri Museum.
During this shifting, the valuables from the inner and outer Ratna Bhandar will be shifted. Meanwhile, if the devotees who want to purchase the Mahaprasad, they can go to the Anand Bazar by climbing the 22 steps (bais pahacha) from entrance (Singhadwara), purchase the Mahaprasad and leave from the North Door.
The shifting will be carried out as per the SOP approved by the State Government. It is worth mentioning here that the Ratna Bhandar was opened twice in July. During this, all valuables stored inside inner chamber of the temple treasury were shifted to temporary strong rooms.
The Ratna Bhadar was opened on July 14 and 18 in the presence of an 11-member team including core committee members of Ratna Bhandar monitoring committee and the SJTA Chief Administrator.
Before this, the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar was last opened in 1978.
Notably, the temple was closed for four hours on August 21 for the Banakalagi Rituals of the Holy Trinity Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra.