Temple Treasure

I was in Trivandrum on 26th June 2011. And on 1st July, the news broke about the massive temple tresure from the safe vault in the temple premises. Infact the supreme court had to halt further opening of vault and order all the opened vault and the contents be documented before proceeding with further opening.

Newspapers carried articles almost everyday. And half way through the estimate, the value of the treasure, just like fiction stories, has crossed 1,00,000 Crores. Obviously all these could not have been accumulated by common man. And the likely source should have been the Royal family of Travancore.

And a few points would really impress you:
(1) Kerala has never been plundered by British or alien rulers (Source : The Hindu)

I was wondering, when all other places were plundered by mughals, british etc, what made this small hindu kingdom stay safe. I thought following could be some of reasons:
(1) To protect wealth, Kings could have kept them in underground safes.
(2) Unlike other kings, who displayed their wealth, the kerala kings didnot do so. They were simply by look and life style, be it their oil polished body or their traditional namboodhri kondai.
(3) British should have considered them to have been too poor and didnot expect any wealth from them. Had they sensed he is wealthy, for sure he would have been stripped off.
(4) That brings me to a quote in Arthasashtra by Chanakya : "The method to accumulate wealth should be in such a way that it doesnot evoke the envy of your neighbours." Probably the Kerala Kings are living examples.

Another impression that this unique temple left with me was:
With passage of time, the floor level (rather road level) has been on the rise. But even today, the P.Temple is about 10 foot above the road level. I was wondering what made this temple being build as such high level. One obvious reason could be, being a coastal town, to avoid the furore of sea such high base level was justifiable. But being a sea shore the sand underneath would constantly be eroded by sea underneath. If this temple is so strong on such a large base, then the entire basement should have been fortified, to withstand any erosion.

As the picture would say, the black and white being taken in 1931 when the vault was last opened, everything has changed : Be it the british rule, the technology, the education system, the life style - everything has change. But few things have not changed : One being the Temple and its agraharam and the other being its Gold Treasure.



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Below mentioned is an extract of article that appeared in The Hindu:

The collection being unearthed at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram principally comprises contributions from the Travancore kings over a long period, say researchers.

Several kings of the Travancore dynasty, from Anizhom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (regnal years 1729 to 1758 CE) to Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma who passed away in 1991, would have contributed handsomely to the treasures that have been discovered at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, say scholars knowledgeable about the history of the dynasty and the royal family. An inventory of the fabulous collection, kept in secret subterranean vaults near the sanctum of the temple, is under way on orders from the Supreme Court. .........
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Foreign donations
Another important contributor to the wealth was Bhoothala Veera Marthanda Varma of the 16th century CE. He belonged to the Venad dynasty, a forerunner to the Travancore dynasty, said Dr. Balusami. Bhoothala Veera Marthanda Varma expanded Venad territory by capturing the area around the Tamiraparani river belt in southern Tamil Nadu, and his rule extended up to Kayal village near present-day Tuticorin. He built palaces for himself at Padmanabhapuram and Kalakkad, in what is now Tamil Nadu. There is a sculpture of Bhoothala Veera Marthanda Varma in the Satya Vagisvarar temple at Kalakkad near Tirunelveli.

Even Admiral Eustatius De Lennoy, who led the Dutch East India Company's forces which Anizhom Thirunal's forces defeated in 1741 in the Colachel war, made donations to the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. “That's why you have Dutch coins, Belgium cut-glasses and Portuguese coins in the vaults,” said Mr. Ramamurthy. Admiral Eustatius De Lennoy ultimately became the Valiya Kappithan (commander-in-chief) of the Travancore forces of Anizhom Thirunal.

Colonel Munroe, who was the British Resident in the Travancore kingdom during the 19th century, had made gifts to the temple. In Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi says that Colonel Munroe, in gratitude for a favour done, “submitted to the Temple, along with a gaily decorated horse, a big circular gold-plated umbrella with green glass stones suspended all around the frame. This accompanies the Deities during the Siveli processions at the time of the festivals, even now.”

A number of researchers are unanimous in their opinion that the riches were kept in the temple because “the temple was the safest place to do so.” The Travancore rulers were great devotees of Padmanabha Swamy and they offered their entire kingdom to him. They took pride in calling themselves “Padmanabha Dasas.”

Fear of fire

Fear of fire guided the decision to keep the riches in underground vaults lined by granite blocks. Fire had broken out several times in the temple, destroying parts of it. “It is only natural that fire will break out because you have the ‘vilakku madom' and ‘deepa madom' [areas to light lamps] where hundreds of lamps are lit,” said Professor Sasibhooshan.

“There is a clear-cut inscription in Vattezhuthu in the Ottakkal mantapam area” in the temple, said Mr. Ramamurthy. “This speaks of renovation after a major fire engulfed it.” The sanctum, the vilakku madom and the deepa madom were rebuilt after the fire. Everything was rebuilt on instructions from Anizhom Thirunal, circa 1729/1731 to 1734 CE, the former ASI officer said. There was another fire on October 28, 1934.

Items in vaults

The priceless items in the vaults include a one-foot tall idol of Vishnu, of solid gold, a 10-foot long gold chain, gold pots, bags of diamonds, hundreds of kilograms of gold trinkets, hundreds of Roman gold coins and Napoleonic era gold coins.
Other riches include, authoritative sources said, gold kasu mala (necklace made of gold coins), ‘sarapalli mala' also called ‘avil mala,' gold waist bands called ‘udyanam,' poothali necklace, kolusu vala (anklets), chandra padaka and a big, gold sarapalli mala called ‘Bheeman sarapalli mala.' The crowns, necklaces and waist band do not have inscriptions.

The treasure also includes a Sree Krishna idol in solid gold; three crowns studded with diamonds, pearls and rubies; gold staff and plates; Belgium diamonds and emeralds. Other items include a golden ‘anki', or full-length dress, for the reclining Padmanabha, made in 16 parts; an ornament studded with diamonds for the deity's chest, two coconut shell replicas of pure gold, and Vijayanagara period coins.

There are French coins and the Dutch East India Company's coins, Roman gold coins called Aureus, Roman silver coins, Venetian ducats, drachmas, and so on. “Five head-loads of Roman gold coins were found in 1858 at a place called Kottayam near Kozhikode. The hoard of Roman gold coins found in the temple vaults may belong to that discovery,” said Dr. Satyamurthy.