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Towards a more tourist-friendly Puri

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An exclusive museum on Lord Jagannath will be set up

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to make the pilgrims’ paradise of Puri more tourist-friendly, the State Government has come up with the unique idea of setting up an exclusive museum on Lord Jagannath in this temple town soon.

To be spread over a sprawling campus of five acres of land at Baliapanda near the Loknath temple, the mega project would cost about Rs.5 crores that would be met from the 12th Finance Commission award, Culture Secretary Gopinath Mohanty said and added that the best of the architects were being contacted for this monumental work.

The museum, aptly named "Shreekshetra Sangrahalaya" (Puri is known as Shreekshetra in ancient scriptures) will have a stone replica of the Lord’s temple.

It would also help the visitors to have adequate idea about the scores of rituals, festivals and legends associated with the temple, it was learnt.

"While non-Hindus are barred from entering the temple, Puri receives a large number of travellers from abroad who are quite curious to know about the temple and its traditions.

The museum would help such people and the scores of non-Hindu scholars and researchers to have a peep into the cult of Lord Jagannath", Mr.Mohanty maintained.

The devotees who throng Puri are not even familiar with all the temple rituals that go round the year here.

The museum would mirror all such interesting information about the shrine and the cult, both for tourists and pilgrims, he said.

There would be an exclusive library on the cult of Jagannath housed inside the museum.

The construction work would start as soon as the architects’ plans are reviewed and approved, the secretary said.

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