Chaitanyadwar Jagannath Dham, Digha
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History
From Grok
The idea for the Jagannath Temple in Digha, a coastal town in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, was first proposed by Mamata Banerjee on December 6, 2018, during a walk from Old Digha to New Digha. Inspired by the modest existing Jagannath temple in the area, she envisioned a grand replica of the iconic Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, to boost tourism and establish Digha as a pilgrimage site.
The project, managed by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO), was officially announced on December 20, 2018. Construction began in May 2022, following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was completed at an estimated cost of ₹250 crore. Built on 22 acres near New Digha Railway Station, the temple mirrors Puri’s Kalinga architectural style, featuring deities Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra. It was inaugurated on April 30, 2025, on Akshaya Tritiya, with the aim of blending spirituality and tourism, though it sparked controversy among Puri servitors who opposed replicating Puri’s rituals, fearing dilution of their traditions.
April 2025
The temple’s inauguration process began with a yajna on April 24, 2025, to ward off negative energies, followed by a Maha Yajna on April 29. The prana pratishtha (consecration) ceremony occurred on April 30, between 3:00 PM and 3:15 PM IST, officiated by Mamata Banerjee. Priests from Puri’s Jagannath Temple and ISKCON conducted rituals, consecrating both neem-wood and stone idols of Jagannath and Radha Krishna. The temple opened to the public for five minutes post-inauguration, coinciding with Akshaya Tritiya.
Pilgrim traffic
2025 June
Subhro Niyogi & Suman Mandal, TNN, June 12, 2025: The Times of India
Digha is only about a fourand-a-half-hours’ drive from Kolkata. This seaside town, with a long beach, and the calm waters of the Bay of Bengal, has for long been a popular holiday destination for people in Bengal looking for a quick getaway.
Then, on April 30, CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurated a Jagannath Dham there, adding a whole new dimension to tourism in Digha, while also upsetting some people in Odisha who thought this was an attempt to upstage the 12th century Jagannath temple in Puri.
But despite the controversy, and probably because of the novelty factor — remember the crowds in Ayodhya in the early days of the Ram temple? — there’s been a rush of pilgrims to the temple that no one could have predicted.
Huge Turnout
“The turnout in the first week was huge. During festivals such as Chandan Yatra, Dol Yatra, Nabakalebara and Janmashtami, we anticipate even larger crowds,” said Radharaman Das, vice president and temple administrator, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) Kolkata. It is Iskcon that manages the Digha temple. In a little over a month since the temple was inaugurated, over 30 lakh pilgrims have visited it — almost a lakh a day, claims Iskcon. And between them, they have donated Rs 37 lakh, of which around Rs 2 lakh came as Re 1 coins. To put things in perspective, Jagannath temple in Puri has an average daily footfall of 40,000 that increases to one lakh on festive occasions. However, it is way ahead in terms of donations, receiving a whopping Rs 10 lakh daily. Iskcon, though, claims that once it finishes putting in place 10 more donation boxes, the ‘pranami’ amount collected daily at the Digha temple will see a significant uptick. As of now, there is only one donation box.
Mirroring Ayodhya
Digha Jagannath Dham’s story is a lot like Ayodhya’s Ram temple in the early months after the Pran Pratishtha on Jan 22 last year. Over a lakh devotees trooped there daily (often touching 2 lakh on holidays). About 65,000-70,000 devotees now visit the temple daily with attendance going up to 1 lakh on weekends. The Sri Venkateswara Temple at Tirupati has an average footfall of between 60,000 and 70,000.
Before the Jagannath temple came up in Digha, the two major draws for pilgrims in Bengal were the Kali temple at Kalighat in Kolkata, and the Dakshineshwar Kali temple, also in Kolkata. While Kalighat receives around 8,000 visitors daily (a shade under 30 lakh a year), Dakshineswar attracts around 20,000 visitors a day or around 73 lakh devotees annually, said Kushal Chowdhury, trustee at the Dakshineswar Kali temple. Though visitor numbers tend to plummet during summer months and monsoon, on special occasions such as Poila Baisakh (Bengali New Year’s Day), Mahalaya and Kali Puja, the turnout in Dakshineswar sees a five-fold jump.
Architects involved in renovating Kalighat and Dakshineswar note that the size of the temple complex influences visitor capacity. Kalighat, situated in a congested neighbourhood, accommodates fewer devotees than Dakshineswar. In comparison, Digha Jagannath temple’s expansive grounds can host tens of thousands.
Pilgrims From Odisha
It’s not just people from Bengal who are visiting the Jagannath Dham in Digha. More than half of the devotees are from neighbouring Odisha — particularly from the Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Keonjhar and Jajpur districts. Rahas Ranjan Samal (38), a Balasore businessman who has visited Puri’s Jagannath temple about 30 times, said, “The Puri temple will always be sacred to us Odias, but this one in Digha is Jagannath’s gift to the world. It’s unfortunate that some people are unnecessarily creating a controversy. Digha is much closer to my home in Balasore than Puri and I find the same dear Lord Jagannath here in Digha, too.”
Sharing her first impression of the new temple, Sabitri Rout (62), a retired educator from Bhubaneswar, who has visited the Puri temple more than 60 times, observed: “I’ve been visiting Puri since I was a child, but when I stepped inside the Digha temple and saw the same Lord smiling at me with the same divine expression, I wept.”
Iskcon’s Das says Lord Jagannath resides in the hearts of people of Odisha and, for them, there is no distinction between the deity at Puri’s temple and the one in Digha. Diptiman Saha (19), a college student from north Bengal, had seen images of the deity only in books and on the internet before visiting the Digha shrine. The experience left him overwhelmed. “When I came here and saw Jagannath for the first time, it felt like my own family was waiting for me inside,” he said.
And then there are tourists from far-off places. For Meera Deshpande (34), a Pune homemaker, the temple is much more than a religious symbol. “It shows how spirituality can unify. My heart felt lighter walking out of that sanctum,” she said. For Palak Dhari (72), a retired teacher from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, who has visited Puri’s Jagannath temple, the one in Digha “felt different — more personal”.
Commerce Booms
Anticipating a sudden surge in footfall, Digha’s hospitality sector bumped up capacity, and is reaping the benefits now. Following the temple’s inauguration, the 850 hotels in the region, including 100 premium properties in New Digha, are recording daily guest numbers of around 75,00080,000, including numerous day-visitors.
The spurt in demand has led to a hike in hotel tariffs, too. Standard rooms now cost Rs 900 daily, up from Rs 600. Air-conditioned accommodation ranges between Rs 1,600 and Rs 2,000. Bipradas Chatterjee, Digha Hoteliers Association joint secretary, said: “During summer holidays, about 80% of Digha’s hotels are usually full. However, since the opening of the Jagannath temple, tourist numbers have shot up several times. Visitors come in groups, spend a day soaking up the sea, visit the temple, dine, and leave — leading to some traffic snarls on Digha’s roads.”
The Jagannath temple in Digha is going the way the Durga Puja economy has evolved: from Rs 32,000 crore in 2019 to Rs 80,000 crore last year, says Iskcon’s Das.
“And the best part: this prosperity is flowing directly into the hands of the people. This is cultural economics in motion, where spirituality fuels development, and devotion drives tangible prosperity,” he added.
Reaction in Puri
2025 May
Sujit Bisoyi, May 4, 2025: The Indian Express
Servitors of the Jagannath Temple in Puri have warned members of their community against participating in any rituals that are held at a new replica of the 12th century shrine that was opened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the seaside town of Digha on Akshaya Tritiya.
Several culture researchers and senior servitors of the Puri Temple have also questioned use of the word ‘Dham’ for the temple by the West Bengal government.
The Digha temple
The new temple has been built at a cost of Rs 250 crore on a 24-acre plot in Digha in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, about 350 km from Puri. Like the Puri Temple, the Digha temple is dedicated to Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Goddess Mahalaxmi.
The 213-foot-high temple is a replica of the world famous Puri Temple, and has been built in sandstone in the Kalingan architectural style. The project was announced in 2019, and construction began in May 2022, supervised by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation.
‘Original’ question
Servitors’ groups like the Suar Mahasuar nijog, which prepares the bhog in the Puri Temple, and the Puspalaka nijog, which dresses the deities daily, put up notices asking servitors not to participate in any rituals at the Digha temple.
Padmanava Mahasuar, president of the Suar Mahasuar nijog, told The Indian Express that while they welcomed the inauguration of the temple in Digha and would even like devotees to visit it, the traditional rituals of the original Temple should not be copied in the new one.
Performing these same rituals in Digha – and at other Jagannath temples in the country – would dilute the significance of the Puri Temple, he argued.
The consecration ceremony on April 30 was attended by a senior servitor (daitapati) of the Puri Temple Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, and servitors from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Radharaman Das, vice president of ISKCON, said that non-Hindus and foreigners would be allowed to enter the Digha shrine – a break from the centuries-old but mostly unexplained practice of allowing only Hindus in Puri.
Use of word ‘Dham’
The West Bengal government’s use of the word ‘Dham’ (seat) and a picture of the Nilachakra (metal wheel atop the Puri Temple) in its advertisements for the Digha temple have also been questioned.
Daitapati Ramachandra Dasmohapatra of the Puri Temple pointed out that there are only four dhams in Hinduism – Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram. Also, this senior servitor said, the idols at the Digha temple are made of stone, which cannot be the case with Lord Jagannath.
“According to Hindu tradition, Lord Jagannath is Daru Brahma, and He is never made of stone. Daru is wood, and Brahma is the supreme power. The idols are made of neem wood,” Dasmohapatra said.
Economic concerns
A significant concern of the Puri servitors is believed to be the possibility of the Digha temple emerging as a competitor to Puri for Bengali tourists and devotees.
A large chunk of visitors to Odisha comes from West Bengal – as per the Odisha government’s Statistical Bulletin 2023, of the 97.25 lakh domestic tourists who visited the state that year, the largest number, 13.59 lakh, or almost 14%, were from Bengal. The share of Bengalis in tourist arrivals in Odisha was roughly the same in 2022 and 2021 as well.
While there are concerns over the possible impact of lower tourist footfall on the hotel and tourism industry, a leading tour operator said the enormous significance of the Jagannath Temple in Puri cannot be discounted.
“Digha can’t as yet match the tourist infrastructure of Puri and other places like Konark, Chilika and Bhubaneswar,” Yugabrata Kar, the tour operator, said. “However”, he added, “there may be an impact in the long run if the Odisha government does not focus on enhancing the experience of devotees at the Puri Temple and making darshan hassle-free.”
Reaction in Odisha, As of 2025
Ashok Pradhan, June 12, 2025: The Times of India
Bhubaneswar : The clamour of opposition emanating from Odisha ever since the inauguration of the Digha Jagannath temple concerns not so much the identity of a shrine as the sanctity of its name. Politicians and holy men from the state say that any Jagannath temple is fine as long as it is called anything but ‘Jagannath Dham’. Because there is one and only ‘Jagannath Dham’, and that is located in Puri. It’s an argument that invokes both canon and emotion.
“Building of new temples is always welcome in any part of the globe but there cannot be a second Jagannath Dham,” said Odisha law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan.
The ‘dham’ label, it’s pointed out, is reserved for four of Hinduism’s cardinal pilgrimage sites and to refer to any other temple as Jagannath Dham would give rise to confusion in the minds of the devout. In a letter to his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Mohan Majhi also points out that the ‘Jagannath Dham’ name holds profound religious, spiritual, and cultural significance for Odias and the followers of Lord Jagannath. Banerjee has not responded to the letter, which doubles down on the demand for renaming of the temple in Digha.
If Majhi has emphasised how use of the term for another temple could hurt the sentiments of millions of devotees and dilute the distinct heritage of Puri as the original abode of Lord Jagannath, Mamata has defended the naming, saying that temples exist across India and that the Digha temple is meant to promote religious tourism.
The point is not lost on Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, who said the nomenclature is misleading and inappropriate. In a recorded message, he suggested that the decision to use the term might be economically motivated with the aim being to attract Bengali pilgrims and shift tourism revenue from Puri to Digha.
Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the first servitor of Lord Jagannath and chairman of the Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee, stressed that only Shree Purushottama Kshetra (Puri) holds the rightful title of ‘Jagannath Dham’. According to scriptures and the Mukti Mandap Pandit Sabha (the apex religious advisory body of the Puri temple), no other place can be referred to as ‘Jagannath Dham’, ‘Shree Kshetra’, ‘Purushottama Kshetra’, or ‘Neelachal Dham’.
A senior servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple, Ramkrishna Das Mohapatra, was suspended for 30 days on May 11 for attending the consecration ceremony of the Digha temple on April 30 and making controversial statements. Puri temple authorities have now said they are planning to register various words and phrases associated with Lord Jagannath to prevent misuse.
