Shrine naming row: Mamata’s action motivated by money, hints Puri Shankaracharya
Bhubaneswar: Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati on Wednesday criticised West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for using the term ‘Jagannath Dham‘ to describe the newly consecrated Digha temple, hinting her action may have been dictated by money.In a recorded message from Hoshiarpur in Punjab where he had gone to attend an event, Saraswati, one of the four Shankaracharyas who head the four major Hindu mutts in the country, said, “Puri’s economy and the sustenance of ‘pandas’ (servitors) and local shopkeepers depend on Bengali tourists visiting Puri,” Shankaracharya said.“A large number of tourists from West Bengal visit Puri. Mamata Banerjee thinks that if Jagannath temple is set up in West Bengal, the Bengali pilgrims will spend money only there. Mamata is clever. An economy game is being played in the name of Lord Jagannath,” the Shankaracharya said.His message comes a day after chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi wrote to Mamata to drop the name ‘Jagannath Dham’ from the Digha temple.Claiming that calling the Digha shrine as ‘Jagannath Dham’ is wrong, the Shankaracharya said, “Everyone knows about the sacred Kashi Vishwanath temple. If the same name is applied to another shrine, it will not be acceptable. Lord Brahma had first installed Shree Jagannath idol in Puri temple. Later, Adi Shankaracharya again installed the ‘Daru’ (wooden) idols of Lord Jagannath.”On Tuesday, Jyotish Peeth (Uttarakhand) Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati had also affirmed that the term ‘Jagannath Dham’ should be used exclusively for the Puri temple.The Puri seer also said Mamata wanted him to consecrate the Digha idols. “But I declined,” he said.His statement comes on a day Puri king and Jagannath temple managing committee (JTMC) chairman Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb seeking Iskcon’s intervention to resolve the sensitive issue.As Lord Jagannath’s primary servitor, Deb acknowledged being informed about Iskcon representatives’ appointment to the Digha temple trust board. “I am informed that the Iskcon is also supervising the seva-puja in that (Digha) temple. I request you to use your good offices to convince the Digha temple trust board to desist from using the word ‘Dham’. Naming the Digha temple as ‘Jagannatha Dham’ or ‘Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre’ amounts to a violation of scriptural injunctions and long-established tradition of Lord Jagannatha, which is hurting the religious sentiments of countless devotees around the world,” the Puri king wrote in a letter to Goverdhan Das Prabhu, chairman of Iskcon’s governing body commission, Mayapur, West Bengal.The Gajapati also pointed out that the Shankaracharyas of Puri and Jyotish Peeth have categorically stated that only Purushottama-kshetra Puri is the ‘Jagannath Dham’ and that no other temple or place should be called so.
