Lord Jagannath's Chariot Wheels in High Demand

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

[Photos: Sampradaya Sun]

May 01, 2013 — JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — A corporation has offered a whopping Rs 5 lakh to purchase a wheel of Lord Jagannath's chariot, which was constructed for Rath Yatra in 2012. The offer came in response to a recent announcement by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) for sale of the wooden wheels and other decorative parts of the three chariots used during the 2012 Rath Yatra.

The SJTA had on March 26th floated an expression of interest (EOI), asking bidders to offer prices for chariot parts above the upset prices fixed by SJTA. The upset price of each wheel was kept at Rs 50,000. A total of 42 wheels were up for sale to generate revenue for the cash-strapped Jagannath Temple. Similarly, upset prices of other decorative parts, like Guja and Prabha were fixed at Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively.

With nearly 12 applications received for different chariot parts, the quotations were opened on April 16th. "One company offered the maximum of Rs five lakh to purchase a wheel," temple's chief administrator Arvind Padhee said. "We also got good offers from eleven other bidders, who quoted prices more than Rs 50,000. Another bidder offered the price of Rs one lakh," Padhee said.

SJTA has decided to sell the chariot parts to all those who quoted prices more than the upset amount. "Since there were not many claimants, we would sell the chariot parts to all the valid applicants. We will soon float a second phase EOI and sell chariot parts to only the highest bidders for different parts," Padhee said.

The dismantled portions of the giant chariots have been preserved at the temple office in Puri. The chariot logs were earlier used as fuel-wood in the shrine kitchen, touted as the biggest temple kitchen in the country. "Instead of using the costly logs as fuel-wood, it is better to generate revenue out of it," said Padhee, also the revenue divisional commissioner (central range) of Odisha.

"The move should not be termed auction. Devotees can voluntarily pay more than the base price as a token donation to the temple," Padhee said. "We urge buyers to worship the chariot parts. They should not misuse it or resell it," he added. "We will take an undertaking in this regard from them," Padhee said.

Every year, the Odisha government supplies a whopping 13,000 cubic feet of wood worth over Rs 65 lakh for construction of three chariots for the millennia-old Rath Yatra. Not less than 1,000 trees of different species are felled for the purpose of making the chariots. Non-sal logs like asana, dhaura, phasi, mahi and simili are largely used for the chariot making. The carpenters construct 45 feet high Taladhwaja chariot for Lord Balabhadra, 45.6 ft Nandighos chariot for Lord Jagannath and 44.6 ft. high chariot Devidalan for devi Subhadra. After the festival ends, the chariots are broken to pieces and the logs are taken to the temple kitchen.