Lord Jagannath and His siblings are no doubt  known for their opulence; but when it comes to offering Prasad, the deities are no more having their gold utensils; rather they are served the offerings on brass plates.

This gross negligence to the Lords has been continuing since long at a time when the Odisha Government is planning to spend Rs 5,000 crore for developing Puri into a ‘World Heritage City’.

Though the presiding deities of four crore Odias own two gold and three silver utensils, which are kept in the storeroom or ‘Bhandar Ghar’ of the Shreemandir. They are being offered prasad in brass plates, said sources.

Question arises, as to why the practice of offering Prasad to deities in gold and silver utensils has been stopped. Has the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) forgotten about the Bhandar Ghar? Or these precious utensils have been missing from the storeroom!

As per traditional beliefs, the Lords used to eat ‘prasad’ in three gold utensils when the Shreemandir affairs were being managed by the Puri Gajapati. As one of these gold plates was damaged after a piece of stone fell on it several years back, the practice was stopped and offering was made in brass plates. No effort was made to repair or replace the plate made of the precious yellow metal. Instead the damaged gold utensil was transformed into a ‘Chakra’ of the deities.

Pained over the disrespect to the Lords, one Bhagaban Suara, a Kanduri Mahasuara servitor, had donated to the temple three silver utensils worth about Rs 15 lakh then. For a few days, the deities were offered Prasad in these silver plates, but the practice was discontinued citing one reason or the other.

Sources said money was demanded from the servitor as donation to which he obliged for a few days. But when he showed his inability to donate more money to the temple, the practice of offering Bhog in silver utensil was stopped.