ASI urged to excavate Lord Jagannath secret hide-out in Trikuta hill

Puri, Feb 23 (UNI) The Jagannath temple administration will urge the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to excavate the caves atop Trikut hills in Western Orissa where the presiding deities have long been kept in secret hide-outs.

For about one and a half century, these deities were kept at a secret place to protect them from the Muslim invaders.

Jagannath temple Chief Administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, who led a delegation team comprising historians, research scholars and academicians for a preliminary examination of the caves, said the ASI and the State Archaeological Department (SAD) would be approached to undertake scientific excavation to unravel the legend associated with Lord Jagannath.

On return from the Trikut hills after preliminary inspection, he told mediapersons here yesterday that the Jagannath temple had endorsed the religious sanction as a sacred place relating to Lord Jagannath by hoisting the temple flag atop the Trikuta hill.

Local history coupled with legends and religious practices acknowledged ''Gopali''(Guptapalli) village under the Ulunda block, about 25 kms away from the Sonepur district in Western Orissa as a sacred place where Lord Jagannath along with his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Devi Subhadra,the three presiding deities of the Jagannath temple, were kept in secret caves for about one-and-half century to protect them from the wrath of Muslim ruler Raktabahu's invasion a thousand years ago.

Mr Mohapatra said the descriptions of the caves and the Trikuta hill may be found in Madala panji (temple records in palm leaf manuscript).

It says that during the Muslim invasion in the regime of King Shoven Dev the deities from the temple were shifted to Trikuta hills, a secret place near Sonpur.

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