Do we need to worry about the Jagannath Temple in Digha?

By Sandeep Sahu

While the general outrage over the Jagannath Temple in Digha is entirely understandable, it certainly begs a few questions. Do we really need to be perturbed - or, at the very least, concerned - over the coming up of a temple dedicated to the Holy Trinity in the beach town of West Bengal? Will the 12th-century shrine in Puri lose its importance now that the Jagannath Temple has been ‘consecrated’ at Digha? Is the concern shared by all Odias or just a section of it?

Puri among holiest places for Hindus

For one thing, there are over 100 Jagannath Temples spread across the world, 15 of them in the USA alone. If they haven’t taken the sheen off the original Jagannath Temple, there is simply no reason to fear that the latest addition to the list would do what the others before it have failed to do. As they say, an imitation can never replace the original. As one of the four Dhams in the country, Puri is among the holiest places for Hindus. The full-page advertisements in leading newspapers issued by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, trying to sell the Digha temple as a ‘Dham’, cannot alter this reality. And the Temple in Puri will always remain unique because of its rich history, its age-old traditions, its plethora of rituals, and above all, the philosophy of universal brotherhood that the cult of Jagannath promotes and propagates. As has been rightly pointed out by senior Daitapati servitor Ramachandra Das Mohapatra, the concept of ‘daru brahma’ (idols made out of wood) is at the heart of the Jagannath cult, and hence ‘brahma staphana’ in a stone idol is an anachronism.

While Odias at large have been primarily outraged by the Mamata government’s bid to hard sell Digha as a ‘Dham’ (which, they think, is nothing short of blasphemy), the opposition to the new temple per se has come mostly from those who stand to lose in case of an anticipated drop in the footfall of Bengali tourists to the holy town, with the priestly class expectedly shouting the loudest. But are the apprehensions well-founded? That Bengalis constitute the single largest block of tourists coming to Puri is merely stating the obvious. But why should we assume, as many are doing, that all Bengali tourists would stop coming to Puri overnight now that there is a Jagannath Temple closer home? While a temple in the beach town may make it easier and cheaper for Bengalis to have darshan of the deities, a section of them who know the history, antiquity and significance of the Puri Jagannath Temple may yet want to have darshan of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Devi Subhadra in their original abode. For the same reason, a Rath Yatra in Digha will never really hold the same attraction as the one in Puri for the genuine Jagannath lover.

Digha is no match 

Besides, Digha doesn’t really offer the complete package that Puri does. By all accounts, the beach in Digha is no match for the one in Puri. Nor does it offer the luxury of a 35-km-long marine drive like the one between Puri and Konark, or the added attraction of other nearby places of tourist attraction like the magnificent Sun Temple in Konark or the Temple City of Bhubaneswar. A fall in the arrival of Bengali tourists is inevitable after the coming up of the Rs 250 crore temple in Digha. But it may not be as drastic as is being feared. The apprehensions are perhaps fuelled by provocative slogans like “No need to go to Puri now,” with which the Mamata government is trying to sell it to its population. But we must understand that she is just trying to assuage the hurt feelings of Bengali Hindus peeved over her perceived pro-Muslim bias in a pre-election year. For all we know, she might forget all about the Temple once the elections are over. As for tourists from other parts of the country – and the world at large – they have no apparent reason to prefer Digha over Puri.     

Digha could help improve things in Puri

If anything, the Temple in Digha could actually help improve things in Puri! Temple servitors, ill-behaved and foul-mouthed at the best of times, may mend their ways and behave properly with devotees now that they have competition at hand. The temple administration may work to make darshan of the deities less of a nightmare for the average devotee, the old in particular. For the same reason, service providers of all kinds may stop fleecing tourists and provide them better services, making their stay in the holy town a more pleasant experience than was the case previously.

All this can, of course, be a mere pipedream. But even if they become partially true, the Jagannath Temple in Digha may not be such a bad thing for us after all!!