Jagannath Temple's treasure vault audit begins after 48 years
After nearly half a century, Puri's famous Jagannath Temple is finally checking its treasure vault, the Ratna Bhandar.
The audit kicked off Wednesday, March 25, 2026 (at 12:09 pm) with experts using 3-D mapping and cameras to catalog the temple's gold and jeweled ornaments, something that hasn't happened since 1978.
Audit will pause for religious festivals
In just six hours, the team managed to document about 80% of the movable items.
Officials from the Reserve Bank of India are overseeing the conversion of measurements and accounting procedures, while gem experts from Mumbai are identifying precious stones like diamonds and sapphires.
The process will pause for religious festivals (like Ram Navami) and pick back up on April 8.
The records will be digitized once the physical counting is completed.