Initiatives of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to talk to Amritsar Gurudwara Prabadhak Committee (SGPC) for development of its Puri monastery ‘Bauli Mutt’ might yield no result.
Since the mutt no way belongs to the Sikh community, so any attempt of the SJTA to negotiate with the SGPC would not make any fruit, argued Mahant Satyanarayan Das, the seer of the mutt.
In an interview, Das described that the present monastery belonging to Udasin community of Hinduism which has over 600 to 700 branches all over India. Besides Bauli mutt, they have two other branches in Puri such as the Mangu Mutt near the Jagannath Temple and the Ayodhya Das Mutt near the sea beach.
As per his information, the Udasin community was founded by Guru Nanak Dev’s son Sri Chand long back in the 16th century. First, Sri Chand came to Puri and stayed here where a small temple of Patitapaban idol was present. After detaching from father’s faith, Sri Chand adopted Hinduism and founded a separate faith known as ‘Udasin community’ although Guru Nanak was a preacher of Sikhism. Guru Nanak later came to the mutt and stayed here during his visit to Jagannath Temple, said Das.
Disapproving the negotiation initiatives of the SJTA with the SGPC, Das argued that they have with them various decisions of the courts, clarifying the ownership rights pertaining to conflict with Sikhism. Some cases are still pending in the court, stated Das, adding that due to contradiction by the temple administration, they are not attending any meeting of them.
Notably, SJTA chief Pradipta Mohapatra recently stated a decision of the managing committee for development of the 16th century ‘Bauli Mutt’ after consultations with SGPC, Amritsar.