Puri: Amid controversy over inauguration of the Jagannath Temple at Digha and 'Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre' advertisement by West Bengal government, a senior Daita servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple cleared air over 'stone' idol and his participation at the event. 

Addressing a presser here today, two days after inauguration of the Jagannath Temple in East Midnapore district of West Bengal, Puri Jagannath Temple's Daita Niyog president Ramakrushna Dasmahapatra dismissed the report of stone idol consecration of Lord Jagannath at Digha temple. 

He said that he had attended the inauguration ceremony on request of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. And the all the rituals were carried out as per his suggestions. 

"Mamata Banerjee is one of my disciples. She had invited me for inauguration programme scheduled on April 30. I had suggested her to conduct all the rituals as per our Vedic system. Accordingly, the Yajna started from April 23 and completed on April 29. The arrangements were made to install the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Sudarshan along with Lord Madhab on the throne on April 30 on auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. The idols were made of Neem wood. The stone idol placed at the temple in last three months is not being worshipped. The neem wood idols were carved in Puri under my supervision. I had taken the idols to Digha for consecration," Dasmahapatra clarified.

He dismissed his statements made to a TV news channel that idols were made of remnants neem wood used for last Nabakalebara of Lord Jagannath.  

"This is a false report. I have never told this to any news channel. My statements might have been morphed or intentionally edited. One thing, I told the media people that the stone idol can never be worshipped there. The neem wood idols were consecrated as per rituals," he said. 

He also dismissed the report of 'Brahma Sthapana' inside idols at Digha temple. 

"NO Brahma has been kept inside the idols. There is only one Lord in the Universe i.e. Lord Jagannath, who has Brahma inside the idol, at Puri Jagannath Temple. No second idol has Brahma inside it at anywhere in the world. Except Jagannath Temple in Puri, the rituals of temple can never be conducted at any other Jagannath temples," the servitor affirmed.

Clarifying about the idols, he said, "The stone idol was placed 4 months back at the temple. When I had visited there, I strongly disapproved the proposal of worshipping the stone idol of Lord Jagannath. Because Lord Jagannath is the only deity, who is called 'Wooden Lord'. This means, the Supreme Soul is embodied in wood. Following discussion with Digha temple officials, the idols were made of neem wood in Puri. The idols are between 2.5 ft and 3 ft in height." 

On 'Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre' in official documents of West Bengal government, he said that he had no idea about it. 

"I have not seen the particular ad mentioning Digha Jagannath temple as a 'Dham'. Other than Puri, no other Jagannath temple can be called as Jagannath Dham. There is only one Jagannath Dham that is in Puri. Nobody can replace it. Lord Jagannath idol can be installed anywhere. But describing the temple as Jagannath Dham is completely an inappropriate act. I request Puri temple administrator, district administration to inform the matter to the government and remove 'dham' tag from official documents. I will personally write to Mamata Banerjee regarding the issue," he said.