Work on to restore Gundicha Temple

Bhubaneswar: Massive restoration works are underway at the Cyclone Fani-ravaged Gundicha Temple in Puri to ready it before the July 4 Rath Yatra. The Gundicha Temple, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra, will host the sibling deities for seven days during the nine-day car festival.
The sprawling temple, about 3 km from the Jagannath Temple on the Grand Road, was robbed of its beauty when Fani made landfall on May 3. It suffered more damage than the Jagannath Temple.
“The kitchen of the Gundicha Temple where mahaprasad is cooked for the deities during their stay has been destroyed. Rest rooms of servitors and temple employees have been blown away by the gusty winds. Temporary sheds at Ananda Bazaar too have been damaged,” Jagannath temple’s chief administrator Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra told TOI.
Mohapatra, a senior IAS officer, said restoration work is in progress in full swing. “We are hopeful that the Gundicha Temple will be renovated within a month. There is no damage to the temple’s sanctum sanctorum where the deities will be seated during the Rath Yatra,” Mohapatra said, adding repair and restoration work at Jagannath Temple is expected to be completed by June 17 Debasanan Purnima, a key ritual observed in the Jagannath Temple in the run-up to the Rath Yatra.
On the Rath Yatra day, the presiding deities will come out of the Jagannath Temple, board their respective chariots that would be pulled by millions of devotees on the Grand Road till Gundicha Temple where the deities will spend at least seven days. The sibling deities would return from Gundicha Temple on “Bahuda” on July 12.
Though Gundicha Temple remains empty for one year following the deities departure on “Bahuda”, a number of devotees visit the temple daily. While around 400 pilgrims visit Gundicha Temple on a normal day, the footfall has now come down to around 100 in the wake of Fani devastation.
The temple’s garden that had coconut, mango, neem, bael trees and other varieties of plants like “tulsi”, rose and jasmine has been completely damaged. The Gundicha Temple complex, including garden, is surrounded by a wall of 430-ft length, 320-ft breadth and of 20-ft height.