Mamata to be present at ‘Maha Yajna’ in Digha's Jagannath Temple, day ahead of inauguration

Digha (WB): Arrangements are in place for the ‘Maha Yajna’ on Tuesday evening at the newly built Jagannath Temple in West Bengal’s seaside tourist town of Digha, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will take part in the rituals, officials said. The Jagannath Temple, a replica of the 12th-century shrine in Puri, is scheduled to be inaugurated on Wednesday on the auspicious occasion of the 'Akshay Trithiya'. Digha is around 350 km from Puri. "The CM will participate in the ‘Maha Yajna’ at the temple. There will a number of rituals during the puja,” an official at the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) told media reporters. At the ‘Maha Yajna’, around 100 quintals of ‘aam kath’ (mango wood) and ‘bael kath’ (bilva wood), and two quintals of ghee will be used, another official said.

On Wednesday, the 'Pran Pratishtha' (consecration) of the idols of the deities will take place, he said. Sacred water from various pilgrimage destinations has already been brought to the temple for the rituals, the official said. Devotees visiting the temple during its inauguration on Wednesday will be given 'gamchas' (rectangular piece of traditional coarse cotton cloth) to protect the body from heat, officials said. Built on around 24 acres of land using red sandstone quarried from Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan, the Jagannath Temple, also known as ‘Jagannath Dham’, is an "architectural marvel, a mixture of intricate carvings and traditional design”, they said. Banerjee had on Monday said the temple will serve as a place of confluence of people for the “next several thousand years”. "This temple will definitely add a new feather to the state's cap. Digha will grow into an international tourist attraction. This will serve as a place of harmony," she had said. "Because of the sea, Digha has a special charm. Now, if it becomes a place of pilgrimage, more tourists will come. I think the sculptors have done a splendid job," she said.

The ‘Jagannath Dham’ has been developed by the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) at a cost of nearly Rs 250 crore. The day-to-day activities of the temple will be managed by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The construction of the temple started in 2022, after Banerjee announced the project in 2018.