A treasure hunt is being carried at the Emar Mutt in Puri's Jagannath temple in Odisha with teams of archaeologists armed with metal detectors searching for a lost hoard. The mutt, located in the south-eastern corner of the 12th Jagannath temple, came into limelight following a request by Narayan Ramanuj Das, the head of Uttarparshwa Mutt, who is also an in-charge of Emar Mutt. The Mutt authorities as well as historians suspect that a hoard of valuable is buried inside the premises.
The belief that a stash is buried underground comes from discoveries of two earlier troves. In 2011, the police have stumbled on a treasure trove of 522 silver ingots weighing 18 tonnes inside the Mutt worth about Rs 900 million. Earlier in April 2021, around 45 more silver ingots weighing about 35kg each were found from the Mutt.
Besides this, a silver tree and flowers, bronze cow sculpture, around 16 antique swords were also found from the Mutt established by Ramanujacharya before 500 years ago. As many as 18 mutts belonging to Ramanuja sect were established in Puri. All these mutts are closely linked to the Shree Jagannath Temple and are involved in rituals associated with the Temple.
