Tallying of Jagannath temple's inner treasury ornaments with 1978 inventory begins

Puri, Aug. 31 -- The second phase of the inventory of ornaments kept in the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar (inner treasury) of the Sri Jagannath Temple began on Monday, with officials undertaking a detailed tallying of the valuables against the inventory prepared in 1978.

The exercise will continue on Tuesday, Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Aravind Padhi said.

The inventory is being conducted strictly in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Odisha government.

The exercise continued for nearly seven hours on Monday. Gemmologists faced considerable difficulty in identifying and examining the precious and semi-precious stones embedded in the ornaments, Padhi said.

The entire process i...