THE PURI Makeover

In another temple town, Puri in Odisha, the ancient Jagannath shrine complex undergoes a radiant revamp, widening the devotees' access to the deities

- ARKAMOY DATTA MAJUMDAR

IN THIS SEASON OF TEMPLE AND TEMPLE TOWN makeovers, the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, stole a march over the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Or perhaps that was exactly the reason why the Naveen Patnaik government chose to unveil its ambitious temple project-a Rs 800 crore heritage corridor around the 12th century shrine-on January 17, five days ahead of the grand event in Ayodhya on January 22. The early inauguration managed to draw the shrine some attention it would never have been able to attract in the forever afterglow of Ayodhya. And so it was that the Shree Mandira Parikrama Prakalpa-one component of a Rs 4,200 crore project aimed to transform Puri, one of the holiest of Hindu pilgrimage centres, into a world-class heritage city-was opened to the public.

"This is not the Puri we knew. What a welcome change our favourite pilgrimage site has undergone!" exults Manoj Thakur, a 52-year-old farmer who led a 50-strong contingent from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh on a week-long pilgrimage across the eastern states. He never expected to walk through air-conditioned, shaded pathways towards the temple. "The best part is now we can do the ritualistic parikrama (circumambulation). Jai Jagannath!" shouts his friend Panchu Ram, 50. It is precisely the enhancement of the pilgrim experience that the Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) initiative focuses on.