By Anubhuti Vishnoi, ET Bureau | 16 Jan, 2016, 04.00AM IST
Source: Economic Times
NEW DELHI: A controversy has broken out over depiction of Lord Jagannath on coins proposed to be issued in commemoration of Nabakalebara 2015. Months after the central government announced that it will issue coins of Rs 10 and Rs 1,000 denominations to mark the latest edition of the once-in-19-years symbolic recreation of four deities including Lord Jagannath, the design is far from finalised.
The economic affairs department has objected to the design suggested by a panel of eminent Oriyas set up by the culture ministry, pointing out that it does not resemble the iconic image of the deity seen at Puri temple. The culture ministry, officials said, has now decided to turn to Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri.
The temple administration will advise on how the deities - including Lord Jagannath's siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra, and Sudarshan - should be portrayed on the coins. The ministry wants to take no chances owing to the religious sentiments involved, they said. The Puri temple, the seat of Lord Jagannath, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, is one of the four 'dhams', or holiest pilgrim centres for Hindus. Nabakalebara sees replacement of the wooden forms of the four deities with a new set of images.
"The design hardly looks like Lord Jagannath," Shaktikanta Das, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, communicated to the culture ministry. Das, who hails from Odisha, pointed out that the design shows the feet of the Lord, which is not in consonance with the image at the Puri temple. He desired to see other designs of the pictures of the Lord in the Nabakalebara festival.
The culture ministry had set up a committee headed by the eminent Oriya litterateur JP Das to help finalise a design. Other members include Professor Harekrishna Satpathy, vice-chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati; Pratibha Ray; artist Dinanath Pathy and poet Haraprasad Das. The secretary of the economic affairs department raised an objection when the culture ministry forwarded the design recommended by the committee to the finance ministry for its approval.
JP Das, however, maintained that the Lord has been depicted with his feet in certain versions. "We followed due process and largely agreed to reproduce the existing Lord Jagannath icon without any additions. There is no distortion in the image we have proposed," Das told ET. "There are also, in fact, at least two 'veshams (images)' of the Lord where even arms and feet are fitted on to the image. The culture ministry, anyway, has not reverted to the committee on this issue," he said.
The images in the Puri temple show only the upper half of the deity's body, though. Legend has it that the devout King Indradyumna, after much penance and prayer, initiated the construction of the temple, which was completed by the divine architect Vishwakarma, with the deities crafted by Lord Vishnu himself in the guise of a carpenter.
Lord Vishnu had, however, imposed a condition that no one disturb or see him while he was at work. One day the curious king stepped in nonetheless and while he did not find the carpenter there, the half complete deities were there. This is the form in which the deities are depicted in the temple.
Source: Economic Times
NEW DELHI: A controversy has broken out over depiction of Lord Jagannath on coins proposed to be issued in commemoration of Nabakalebara 2015. Months after the central government announced that it will issue coins of Rs 10 and Rs 1,000 denominations to mark the latest edition of the once-in-19-years symbolic recreation of four deities including Lord Jagannath, the design is far from finalised.
The economic affairs department has objected to the design suggested by a panel of eminent Oriyas set up by the culture ministry, pointing out that it does not resemble the iconic image of the deity seen at Puri temple. The culture ministry, officials said, has now decided to turn to Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri.
The temple administration will advise on how the deities - including Lord Jagannath's siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra, and Sudarshan - should be portrayed on the coins. The ministry wants to take no chances owing to the religious sentiments involved, they said. The Puri temple, the seat of Lord Jagannath, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, is one of the four 'dhams', or holiest pilgrim centres for Hindus. Nabakalebara sees replacement of the wooden forms of the four deities with a new set of images.
"The design hardly looks like Lord Jagannath," Shaktikanta Das, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, communicated to the culture ministry. Das, who hails from Odisha, pointed out that the design shows the feet of the Lord, which is not in consonance with the image at the Puri temple. He desired to see other designs of the pictures of the Lord in the Nabakalebara festival.
The culture ministry had set up a committee headed by the eminent Oriya litterateur JP Das to help finalise a design. Other members include Professor Harekrishna Satpathy, vice-chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati; Pratibha Ray; artist Dinanath Pathy and poet Haraprasad Das. The secretary of the economic affairs department raised an objection when the culture ministry forwarded the design recommended by the committee to the finance ministry for its approval.
JP Das, however, maintained that the Lord has been depicted with his feet in certain versions. "We followed due process and largely agreed to reproduce the existing Lord Jagannath icon without any additions. There is no distortion in the image we have proposed," Das told ET. "There are also, in fact, at least two 'veshams (images)' of the Lord where even arms and feet are fitted on to the image. The culture ministry, anyway, has not reverted to the committee on this issue," he said.
The images in the Puri temple show only the upper half of the deity's body, though. Legend has it that the devout King Indradyumna, after much penance and prayer, initiated the construction of the temple, which was completed by the divine architect Vishwakarma, with the deities crafted by Lord Vishnu himself in the guise of a carpenter.
Lord Vishnu had, however, imposed a condition that no one disturb or see him while he was at work. One day the curious king stepped in nonetheless and while he did not find the carpenter there, the half complete deities were there. This is the form in which the deities are depicted in the temple.
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