Charles Grome's Report on the Temple of Jagannath 10 June 1805 (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The temple of Lord Jagannath, one of the holiest of Hindu temples in the Indian subcontinent, is the cultural epicenter of Orissa It represents the core of collective consciousness and social psyche of the people of the State. The management of this great temple is a complex and uninterrupted process involving numerous rituals. It marks a tradition of continuity, which has witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and the shifting of centers of political power over centuries.

Shri Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Orissa, on June 13, 2000 announced twelve new initiatives to be pursued vigorously by various departments of the Government. The new initiatives include the compilation and publication of an authentic history of Jagannath Culture. As a first step towards fulfilling this objective, the Department of Culture constituted an Editorial Board under the chairmanship of Professor K. C. Mishra. Following the sad demise of Professor Mishra, Dr. K. S Behera the Vice Chancellor of F M. University, Balasore and a renowned historian, was nominated as the Chairman of the Editorial Board.

While going through the proceedings of the Board meetings, we realized that Orissa State Archives is in possession of several manuscripts and documents of great historical value pertaining to the temple of Lord Jagannath. Considering the importance of archival source material in compiling an authentic history of Jagannath Culture, the Board recommended the publication of Charles Grome's Report dated 10th June 1805, to begin with. Charles Grome, the Collector of Jagannath (Puri), had furnished an elaborate report on Jagannath temple to the then Commissioner of Southern Division. This report along with its 18 Annexures contains valuable information on various aspects of the temple, which include the sources of revenue, list of properties and articles, the intricacies of internal management, the role of servitors and various other functionaries in festivals and ritualistic performances.

As such, scholars have been consulting this report in manuscript form as a source material for their research works. Now that, the report is being put in the public domain through this publication, I hope, research work on Jagannath Culture will receive further encouragement.

Archives contain the original and basic information in many important fields of study in humanities and social sciences Though Archives are nothing more than mere instruments of administration and they are preserved primarily to enable the administrative bodies which created them to function efficiently, as time passes, archives come to acquire values other than purely administrative values, values for historians, political scientists, economists, sociologists and geneologists, in short, for any enquirer into his country's past.

The history of the temple of Jagannath from the day of its construction, especially its impact on socio-economic and cultural life of the people during the British period is a fascinating study. The main source of information for these aspects of studies depends upon archival records, both public and private, which are available in plenty in different institutions and with individuals; i.e. the National Archives of India, India Office Library (London), West Bengal State Archives and Orissa State Archives. The private records pertaining to the temple of Jagannath are available with different temple functionaries. The Orissa State Archives is a treasure-house of invaluable information on various disciplines which has engaged the attention of serious researchers. It houses nearly 6 lakh documents of which quite a good number of documents refer to the temple of Jagannath, its internal governance and various rites and rituals.

As per the 12-point initiative programme of Hon'ble Chief Minister, the Deptt. of Culture has taken up two important publication programmes i.e., "Authentic History of Jagannath Culture" and "Chronicle of Freedom Movement in Orissa" Two Editorial Boards consisting of eminent historians and scholars have been constituted for each of the publication programmes. The implementation of these two publication programmes has been entrusted with the Orissa State Archives. Under the programme Authentic History of Jagannath Culture", the Editorial Board have decided to bring out the publication entitled *Charles Grome's Report on the Temple of Jagannath".

This Report is accompanied with 18 Annexures which highlight various aspects relating to management and administration of the Temple, daily rituals, sources of revenue of the Temple, list of Brahmins, matters relating to the establishment of the temple, list of articles in the store room of Jagannath etc. Thus, this publication based on Archival materials mainly focuses on the temple of Jagannath during early part of 19th century and the accompanied lists elaborately dwell upon the internal management of the temple. Another important archival document on the accounts of the Temple of Jagannath reported by G. Webb, Collector, Cuttack in 1807 is also available in the State Archives. The report when published, I am sure, will be complementary to Grome's Report.

This two-hundred-year old handwritten manuscript has been meticulously edited by an august body of Editors comprising Prof. K. S. Behera, Vice-Chancellor, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Dr. H. S. Patnaik, Professor of History, Utkal University, Dr. M. P Dash, an eminent Scholar and former Jt. Director, Culture and Head of the Orissa State Archives, and Sri R.K.Mishra, former Editor, Orissa Review to whom we owe a deep sense of gratitude. It would be an honour on my part to cherish the fond memories of Prof. K. C. Mishra, who was the former Chairman of the Editorial Board. His sad demise In December 2001 is a serious loss to the State.

First of all I am grateful to Sri Bijayashri Routray, Hon'ble Minister, Tourism & Culture for evincing a keen interest in implementing this laudable project. Our main source of inspiration is indeed Sri R. Balakrishnan, I A.S., Commissioner-Cum-Secretary. Tourism and Culture, Government of Orissa. My profound gratitude is due to him for his kind guidance and attention despite his busy work schedule. Sri N.M.Mohanty, I.A.S.. Director, Culture, Government of Orissa has all along been enthusiastic about the publication. I am grateful to him.

I am also thankful to Md. Ismail Sayeedi, Curator, Sri B. N. Das, Technical Asst. and other Archivists and Technical Assts of Orissa State Archives for their active involvement in bringing out this publication. I also thank Sri K. N. Padhi, Steno, for his assistance. My thanks are also due to all the staff of Orissa State Archives for their assistance and cooperation. Special mention may be made of Sri D. S. Mohanty, Sr. Clerk for his liasion work with different offices in connection with this publication programme.

I specially thank Sri S. C. Jena, Ex-Tech., Asst. who has been fully associated with the preparation of the press copy of this publication right from the beginning. I also thank M/s. Mayur Press, Bhubaneswar for undertaking of the printing work in the scheduled time. Sri Baladev Maharatha and Sri Sudhir Lenka deserve my thanks for designing the cover page.