Ratna Bhandar Treasury of Jagannath Temple

Ratna Bhandar Treasury of Jagannath Temple

May it be the Treasure room (Ratna Bhandar) or any Attires(bhesha) of Lord Jagannath and his siblings or his Mahaprashad(divine food) each and every thing surrounded the Lord of the universe is as mysterious as that Lord Sri Jagannatha Mahaprabhu himself. 

The Order: 

As per the court's order the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is all ready to examine the structural condition with the inspection of the walls of Ratna Bhandar of Sri Mandir on April 4, the unsolved mysteries behind restriction on opening the Ratna bhandar ( treasury, popularly known as Bhitar bhandar ghara in temple) of the centuries-old shrine of Lord Jagannath will come to fore.Everyone’s eyes are on the secrets relating to it, where the gold, pieces of precious jewelries, most precious gems, diamonds, corundum, corals, pearls, sapphires and other valuables have been preserved over decades.

Inside the Ratna Bhandar:

 Inside Ratna Bhandar there are all in total 7 chambers out of which 2 are considered as the Bahara Bhandar where for the day to day Rituals and for attires (Bhesha) of the deities the jewels and precious ornaments are kept. As per the mention in the Indra nilamani Puran (a very secret scripture about Lord Jagannatha). King of the heaven Indra had gifted  830 sets of Chitas( which deities wears on their forehead) each, for the 3 deities.Which is made up of Gold and the central gemstone as Blue Sapphire, Pearl and Diamond for the deities Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannatha. However apart from the central gemstone there are many small gemstones surrounded over the central one. 

Apart from that the Hrudaya Padaka(The locket of the chest) that lord wears daily of Flowers in his Bedtime attire is said to be made up of gold whereas in the center of it the most precious Diamond in the history of mankind, The Kohinoor( Koh-i-Noor) was present. And another precious diamond which is still being searched is still there in the locket ornament of Lord Balabhadra which was gifted by Lord Krishna, which was present on Shri Krishna's Crown.

(Note: The name of the other Diamond would not be mentioned here in this post for security reasons.) 

Apart from that, there are different ornaments such as Nakachana, Nakuasi(Nose and head ornaments of the deities) in which the central gemstone is the Kalinga Diamond which is covered by 6 more different types of Kalinga Diamonds in which the lower part which should be hanging down the forehead and nose is made up of small 218 balls which is of many small diamonds making an oval shape. Apart from that there are Diamond studded armlets, earrings, rings, anklets etc and gemstones as Kausauti(turns iron into gold), Manak, Padmaragmani, baidurya mani, Golabi heera, Ruby, Manikya, Ramani mani, koustuva mani, Spatika, soundhika, phiroza, gomedika, panna, pukhraj, moti, vajra heera, munga, panchupanna, jeeda, Sunhala, akika etc 

Many types of alankar (golden ornaments) are there in the first two chambers of Ratna Bhandar.Those are used for Golden attires of Lord done 5 times a year which consits of around 180 types of golden ornaments, apart from that on various festive occasions Kundal, Tilakas,Tagadi's are used. Likewise the stored ornaments and pieces of jewelry found in the 2nd chamber is used in Raghunath Bhesha of Lord, last time which was  held on 1905 in which the deities are dressed as such as the scene depicts Shri Rama after adorning his throne after his coronation, where Bhrmha,Shiva,Indra and demigods, Hanuman, Angad, Shatrughan, Nala, Jambavanta and entire Banarsena made up of gold would be shown in this attire where people would be allowed to have darshan from behind the Garuda Stamba due to the presence of Golden Banarsena(Shri Rama's Troop those who helped Rama to fight againts Ravana) throughout the Jagamohan, Natamandap. And there are many traditional divine ornaments like Indragovinda kanchuli, Mukuta jali, Ratna odhani, Mukuta basani, Heeraka Kundala, Dosarichina Mala, Rupa bajeni Noopura and many more. 

Mentioned in Scriptures

It's mentioned there as per the books which keep about the accounts of rituals of Sri Mandira that Lokanatha is the Bhandara rakhyaka (the protector of the Ratna Bhandara)  and there was a tradition earlier that a special type of khichidi in Mahaprasahad is used to placed inside for the Mahatma in Sri Mandir's term which is used for seven-headed snake, however from 153 years this tradition has been discontinued by Mahasuars(those who cooks mahaprashad inside Jagannath Temple ) and apart from that earlier in past the many incidents were also seen which gives the proof of variosu of posionious snakes in the Ratna Bhandar, And as in past till now Jagannath Temple has been invaded over 29 times (as per the record, investigation is still on and the number may increase) and those who have came with strict confidence of looting, they looted too much as he is the Lord of the universe and he supported as their aim was fixed, but those who have came to destroy that lord they end up by destroying themselves as they(the deities) are the source of the universe.