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Temple treasure worth over Rs.90,000 crore
| Gold ornaments, gold and silver coins, stone studded crowns, idols and figurines inlaid with precious stones and jewels estimated to be worth a whopping over Rs.90,000 crore have been found from the cellars of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here. | |
| The inventory list of jewellery after the opening of the chambers, some locked up for several decades, on Supreme Court orders, is expected to go up substantially. The exercise which began on June 27 to assess the value of the articles has been undertaken by a seven-member panel of observers, including two former High Court judges. It will continue tomorrow after a day’s breather today. According to the temple sources, the treasure trove has been so far estimated at around Rs 90,000 crore, throwing up security concerns with police as an interim step deploying two platoons of armed personnel to guard the area. While similar treasures possessed by many other princely states in pre-colonial India were plundered by attackers, or wasted on luxuries by members of the royal houses themselves, the Travancore kings are believed to have zealously guarded them as reserves of the state. Coins from other princely states like Vijayanagar empire and European countries have also been found which might be part of the gifts received by the rulers of the time. While all major temples of the area were handed over to the Travancore Devaswom Board after merger of the princely state with the Indian Union after 1947, control of Padmanabhaswamy temple was retained by the royal house through a covenant with the government. Narayanan, former Indian History Congress President said, "The state or Central government cannot take over these assets as they are part of the temple coffers according to the system followed by the Travancore kings." Courtesy : Deccan Herald. | |
Treasure worth 5,000 crore unearthed from temple vault
| The seven-member team deputed by the Supreme Court on Thursday reportedly discovered a treasure trove of gold and diamonds worth Rs 5,000 crore in one of the two secret vaults of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here. | |
| The doors of the vault ‘A’ was opened by the team led by two former High Court judges M N Krishnan and C S Rajan on Wednesday. Though the vault was empty it led to a dark underground chamber. The members wearing oxygen masks resumed their effort on Thursday and walked through the passageway. Sources say when the sand on the floor was removed, they found markings leading to the treasure which has been estimated to be worth Rs 5,000 crore. Among the treasure were a huge idol of Sree Padmanabha Swamy, three diamond-studded crowns, a gold bar, close to 1,000 traditional golden necklaces, one of them being about 18 feet-long. This apart, there were countless other jewellery, a gold sceptre, diamonds, and artefacts studded with Belgian stones and gems. The team is expected to enter the ‘B’ vault on Friday and prepare an inventory of the articles there. Vaults C, D and E have already been examined while vault ‘F’ had puja articles in it. It was during the reign of SriVishakamThirunal Rama Varma in the 1880s that the vaults were opened. These were considered the treasury of the Travancore kings who ruled the state as “Padamabha dasas” or servants of the Lord. It is believed that VishakamThirunal’s successor Sri MulamThirunal, (1885-1924) and Dewan C P RamaswamyAiyer (1936-47), also opened the tombs during times of famine. The treasure contains gifts given to the kings of Travancore by royalty across the world during the 19th century. The temple known for its architectural elegance and long rows of granite columns with exquisite engravings has Lord Vishnu reclining on the thousand-headed serpent Anantha as the presiding deity. The temple is run by a trust floated by the Travancore royal family for whom Lord Padmanabha is the family deity. Courtesy : Deccan Herald. | |
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