The Odisha government’s decision to demolish structures around the Jagannath temple in Puri once again brought to the fore the existence and activities of Mutts in the state, particularly in the places of religious significance. The structures the state government grounded for security reasons included old Mutts like Emar which were reportedly hundreds of years old. Many of them, in fact, had already been declared unsafe and dangerous for human habitation.

                   This is high time the Matt and Mahant culture in the state should be consigned to the history books. There is no need of their existence anymore in this modern era. There has been a demand that these Mutts should be rebuilt and reconstructed. And the government should provide suitable land for this purpose. The state administration should not heed to this demand.

                    The Mutts had come into existence in and around religious places in the ancient times to provide shelter to devotees and pilgrims visiting the shrines and religious places. They were being financed and funded by erstwhile kings and rulers so that the people and common citizens of their respective areas will not face any problems while on a religious trip. The Mutts were feeding the devotees and providing them shelter as well. Mahants were appointed to supervise these activities.

                   However, over the years when gradually the society developed and modernized, hotels, restaurants, different kind of eateries, commercial rest and guest houses, panthsalas and panthnivases came up near the shrines and religious places to cater the shelter and food requirements of the visitors and devotees. The existence of the Mutts were not needed anymore. The Mutt story, therefore, should have ended long back.

                  That unfortunately did not happen. And the Mutts were allowed to exist for various reasons, many a times for political purposes. Even instances of illegal activities in some Mutts, if not all, had been surfacing from time to time at several places across the country.

                  Some argue that Mutts and their culture and tradition should be preserved for future generations. Now the question is how this will benefit the gen next. Those in the future generations would be interested to know about Mutts, they can turn to history books. There is no need for structural existence of these Mutts. Rather the land freed from the demolition of Matts should be utilized for commercial purposes and the funds from that must be used for development of the local shrines and their surroundings.

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