Goddess Maha Lakshmi of Srimandir gets back her gold crown

Puri: The ‘Kiriti’ or gold crown of Goddess Maha Lakshmi of Puri Jagannath temple returned to her on Wednesday, two months after it was removed for repair purposes.

The return of the gold crown has been welcomed by devotees on occasion of last Thursday of the Odia ‘Margashira’ month today.

Earlier, a tug-of-war had ensued between servitors and the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration after the gold crown went missing in last two months.

The temple administration had argued that the responsibility of the crown lies with servitors of the Lakshmi temple, and said it was yet to get the management control of the temple.

On the other hand, servitors had claimed that a portion of the crown was broken during the Nabakalebar festival and had to be reused after some repairs. But, again some defects were detected which prompted servitors to remove it for repair.