Bhubaneswar: Renowned international sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik has expressed heartfelt gratitude to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari through a beautiful sand art creation featuring Lord Jagannath.
This comes shortly after the West Bengal government decided to drop the word “Dham” from the name of the Jagannath Temple in Digha.
In a social media post, Pattnaik shared the sand art and thanked the Chief Minister, stating: ‘Jai Jagannath. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Suvendu Adhikari, for the decision to remove the word ‘Dham’ from the name of the Jagannath Temple in Digha. This thoughtful step reflects respect for the sentiments and faith of millions of devotees of Mahaprabhu Jagannath and upholds the sanctity of Sanatan Dharma.”
Notably, the Digha Jagannath Temple (a replica-style shrine modeled after the iconic Puri temple) was inaugurated in April 2025 by the previous West Bengal government as “Jagannath Dham.” The use of “Dham” sparked significant controversy, as the term traditionally and scripturally refers to the sacred abode of Lord Jagannath in Puri — one of Hinduism’s four revered Char Dhams. Many devotees, servitors from Puri, and leaders in Odisha viewed the naming as diluting the unique spiritual status of the original Jagannath Dham.
On June 9, 2026, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the decision following a formal request from Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Adhikari stating that, “I am accepting this letter…Let me state clearly that the then-government had approved it as a cultural centre. We will remove the word ‘Dham’. The cultural centre complex will remain, and worship will continue. The entire complex will function as a temple, but the word ‘Dham’ will be dropped. I, too, felt that the previous government had disregarded people’s sentiments”.
