Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, the richest Temple/Religious Centre in the World.

[ajithv]

The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the seven-member committee from opening vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, which according to various estimates contains wealth worth over Rs. 1 lakh crore.

A bench of justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik asked the petitioner Raja Marthanda Varma, erstwhile Prince of Travancore, and the Kerala government to come out with appropriate suggestions for ensuring sanctity and security of the ancient temple which has come to the limelight following discovery of the huge wealth.

The apex court while restraining the opening of vault (B) and also the vault (A) posted the matter for further hearing on next Thursday.[/B]

During the arguments, senior counsel K.K. Venogopal, appearing for the erstwhile prince, clarified that the temple was a public property and no member of the royal family claims any ownership or right over the huge property.

“The royal family is not claiming any ownership. It is a public temple. It is not claiming any ownership of property.

No part of it belongs to any member of the family. The property belongs to Lord Padmanabhaswamy,” he told the bench.

The royal family which is the trustee of the temple has challenged the Kerala government’s decision to take over the administration of the temple which was earlier upheld by the Kerala High Court.

During today’s arguments, the bench observed that utmost security should be ensured in and around the temple in view of the discovery of the huge wealth.

Emphasising on security measures, the bench observed, “Instead of having their eyes on the deity or sanctum sanctorum, the eyes of many people will now be on these kallara (vaults).”

Counsel Venugopal also clarified that the value of the treasure reportedly discovered from the temple was not authentic as they were mere media speculations.

“So they were valuation by the media. They are newspaper valuations,” the bench remarked.

The apex court, during the last hearing on July 6, had directed videography of the ongoing unearthing of treasure trove inside the chambers of the temple.

The bench had proposed the appointment of a curator of a museum to preserve the treasure being unearthed from the centuries-old temple in Kerala.

The treasures found from cellars of the temple are estimated to be around Rs 1 lakh crore.

The apex court’s directions had come during the hearing of a petition by the heir of erstwhile prince of Travancore Raja Rama Varma, challenging a Kerala High Court ruling of January 31 this year, ordering takeover of the assets and management of the shrine by the state.

The court had also barred the observer, supervising the unearthing of the temple’s treasure, from giving any interview of the process, saying the matter is related to the state.

The apex court had earlier passed an interim order on a plea filed by Rama Varma’s uncle Marthanda Varma staying the high court’s order for takeover of the management and assets of the temple.

While hearing the petition, the court had directed that “there shall be a detailed inventory of the articles, valuables and ornaments found from the temple’s treasure trove.”

Source

[ajithv]

The Deseeya Aikya Vedi has asked the Centre to take steps at all costs to preserve and protect the valuables found in the vaults of the Sree Padmanabhswamy Temple.

In a memorandum sent to the Prime Minister with copy to the Union Finance Minister on Thursday, Vedi president Vellaikadavu G. Muraleedharan and general secretary C. Anidurdhan said the threat to the centuries-old heritage structure had to be seriously considered and any possible terrorist attack had to be thwarted. The metal detectors at the entry and exit alone would not help. They wanted arrangements to be made for a full video coverage of devotees visiting the temple. They also called for clearing the vicinity of the temple of shops and unauthorised traders.

Source

[ajithv]

Seventy-nine years ago, long before the latest discovery of phenomenal treasures in the Sree Padmanabhaswami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, at least one of the several vaults of the temple had been opened and an inventory made of the precious objects found inside. The Hindu's correspondent, who witnessed the events, filed reports describing the scene and the finds.

On Sunday, December 6, 1931, around 10 a.m., at an auspicious time chosen by the temple officials, one of the vaults was opened. Following special religious rites, "the key was applied to the old and rusty locks." Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the Maharaja, himself was at hand. An ambulance waited outside to attend to any emergency. The locks failed to yield, and the doors were broken open after a two-and-a-half-hour struggle.

Floodlights and torches were used to light up the space inside, and electrical fans were switched on to ‘pump air in and out' of the cellar. The temple officials found four chests made of brass which contained old coins. Next to them was “a granary like thing,” full of gold and silver coins. Over that there were several gold pots. There was a wooden chest fixed to the ground, and it had six chambers. In it were jewels with diamonds, rubies, emerald and other precious stones. In addition, there were over 300 gold pots and four vancheds, or coffers.

The officials who got into the first cellar found that another one was behind it. It was believed, The Hindu report mentioned, that in all there were four cellars: Mahabarathakonathu kallara, Sree Pandarathu kallara, Vedavyanakonathu kallara and Sarswathikonathu kallara.

By 3.30 p.m., the operation was stopped and the vault sealed. The four vancheds were taken to the Chellavagai, or palace treasury, “for counting and valuation.” It is not clear from the reports if any of the remaining cellars were opened in the following days. The reasons for opening the vaults too were not elaborated.

However, Emily Gilchrist Hatch, who was in Trivandrum in 1933, offered an explanation in her book, Travancore: A guide book for the visitor (Oxford University Press, 1933). She not only recalled the 1931 opening of the vault, but also mentioned a similar but unsuccessful attempt that had been made in 1908.

Ms. Hatch, who in the preface to her book profusely thanked the Travancore government for all the “help and counsel” extended to her, recorded that the temple had a vast amount of wealth ‘lain in vaults.'

“About 25 years ago,” she wrote, “when the State needed additional money, it was thought expedient to open these chests and use the wealth they contained.” “A group of people” got together and attempted to enter the vaults with torches. When they found them “infested with cobras” they “fled for their lives.”

However, in 1931 the temple officials were better prepared with “electric lights and system of fans,” she observed.

The 1930s were difficult times. The princely state Travancore, like the rest of India, was facing an economic depression. Revenues had fallen and the prices of agricultural produce had come down. It was in these difficult times that Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma was invested with ruling powers, T. Austin, an Englishman, succeeded Subrahmanya Aiyar as Dewan, and C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar was appointed legal and constitutional adviser to the Travancore government.

However, in 1932, when the Dewan recalled the important events of the preceding year in his annual address to the Sri Mulam Popular Assembly, one of the two legislatures in Travancore then, there was no mention of any treasure being taken from the temple or used.

Ms. Hatch's book provided a description of how large wooden chests were placed “ready to receive the daily offerings.” She mentioned that as and when the chests became full they were lowered into the vaults for safe-keeping. This may partially explain how votive offerings like gold coins reached the vaults. But the description does not throw much light on how large artefacts such as the golden icon that was recently discovered reached the vaults.

Indeed, how such vast amounts of wealth and innumerable artefacts accumulated in the vaults, and remained safe without apparent pilferage for such a long period, remains a puzzle.

Source

[ajithv]

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The awe-inspiring riches of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple have triggered a new wave of colonial invasion.

The New York Times, Washington Post, The Time Magazine, Newsweek, BBC and Deutsche Welle (Germany) are among other leading international dailies and TV channels which have sent their representatives to the state capital to cover the treasure hunt.

'Beneath a Temple in Southern India, a Treasure Trove of Staggering Riches,' was how The New York Times reported about the most surprising treasure hunt at the temple.

"Temples in India often have rich endowments, mainly by way of donations of gold and cash by pilgrims and wealthy patrons, but the wealth discovered at Padmanabha Swamy (Temple) dwarfs the known assets of every other Indian temple," says the report published in The New York Times.

The Time magazine has decided to go for an extensive coverage of the treasure hunt for which the task has been entrusted with Ishaan Tharoor, son of Shashi Tharoor MP who is representing Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha. Ishaan, who is based in New York and is with the editorial team of the magazine, has started working on a feature on the treasure hunt.

The German media, too, has evinced interest in the treasure hunt. Already two correspondents, one from a television channel (Deutsche Welle) and another from a leading magazine (Der Spiegel) have visited the state capital to cover the most soughtafter treasure trove at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. "The thousands of necklaces, coins and precious stones have been kept in at least five underground vaults at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple which is renowned for its intricate sculptures," was how the Pakistanbased 'Dawn' newspaper reported. "Onlookers and devotees thronged the shrine in the bustling centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of India's southern Kerala state, as officials said treasure worth more than $20 billion had been found more than India's education budget,"was how the Reuters reported the event.

However, the CNN treated the treasure hunt from a different perspective. "Jetsetting spiritual gurus. Gilded temples. Sprawling ashrams. Tonnes of offerings. India's religious wealth belies the nation's dire poverty," said the CNN report.

Source

[ajithv]

From New York Times

From Reuters

From Dawn

From CNN

[Rajesh SM]

[ajithv]

Image Courtesy : Metro Manorama

[ajithv]

The Supreme Court restrained the seven-member committee from opening vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.A bench of justices R.V Raveendran and A.K Patnaik asked the petitioner Raja Marthanda Varma, erstwhile Prince of Travancore, and the Kerala Government to come out with appropriate suggestions for ensuring sanctity and security of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple which has come to the limelight following discovery of the huge wealth.

From NewsX



From News24





From Times Now



From TV9 Telugu



From Kairali TV

[Godsowncapital]

good tht u started a new one ajithetta

the tv9 clip is nonsense, worst channel i ve ever seen.
its funny, for wat they ve told in it... nammal thironthorathukkar kettittillatha padmanabha charitham okke aanu avar parayunnathu :P
last day one of my frenz from blore also called hearing this...LOL

[ajithv]

Yes.I know that.Especially the TV9 Kannada.Some Telugu channels are frustrated about the new happenings.The reason is well known.

[ajithv]

When a team of unlikely explorers, including former judges and temple officials, started opening the vaults of a Kerala temple last week, they didn’t expect to find gold and precious stones worth $22 billion, according to preliminary estimates. A complete inventory of the artifacts found in the 16th century Hindu temple is expected to be filed to India’s Supreme Court next week.With the findings, Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple joins the ranks of the world’s top treasure troves. After eluding explorers and archeologists for years, these were found stashed in hidden vaults, secret chambers and caves.

Source : Wall Street Journal

[ajay2124]

Originally Posted by Godsowncapital

good tht u started a new one ajithetta

the tv9 clip is nonsense, worst channel i ve ever seen.
its funny, for wat they ve told in it... nammal thironthorathukkar kettittillatha padmanabha charitham okke aanu avar parayunnathu :P
last day one of my frenz from blore also called hearing this...LOL

You know there was a Taking point @ 9.pm in Ajtab Channel where there is no person from kerala in the Talk & All People were north indians & They Were Actually Fighting in the Topic "Treasure to be protected or it should be sold"

Chumma Vaye Toniyathu Vilichu Parayayannu! Evanonum vera Pani Ellae
Atleast they can call Shasi Annan To talk na!

[ajithv]

He was there in NDTV.

[munda]

I think that these people should have shown some more creativity. They could have filmed all this from beginning and created a very nice documentary which could have easily sold for $50 million to NGC or Discovery. After all such things happen only once in a while.

That money alone would have helped them build many things in the temple.

[abhilashtvpm]

Malayala Manorama

[ajithv]

The head of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, on Friday informed the Supreme Court that neither he nor any of his family members was making any claim to the wealth or properties of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for him, made this submission before a Bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik, hearing special leave petitions against a Kerala High Court order for a government takeover of the administration of the temple.

Referring to the substantial quantity of valuable jewels and other artefacts found in the underground ‘kallaras' (safe vaults) of the temple in recent days as a court-appointed panel started opening them and making an inventory of their contents, Mr. Venugopal said: “The royal family is not claiming any ownership. No part of the property belongs to any member of the family. The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple is a public temple and they are only trustees.”

Mr. Venugopal added: “The head of the Travancore family, Mr. Marthanda Varma, believed that the treasure should be used judiciously for religious and social uplift, running veda patasalas and maintenance of other Hindu temples which are not in good condition. The unique artefacts made as offerings to the deity show to what extent people are prepared to part with their wealth for the sake of God.”

Counsel said: “Newspapers and the media say that the value of the treasure is over Rs. 1 lakh crore and this is the richest temple in the world, even richer than the Vatican, but the intrinsic value of precious jewellery and copper coins must be assessed by an expert.”

Justice Raveendran, in a lighter vein, said: “By saying this is the richest temple in the world, you are defaming Lord Balaji of the Tirupati temple because it is always considered the richest temple.”

When Justice Raveendran said that “we are concerned with preservation and conservation of the property and not its valuation,” Mr. Venugopal said: “The value must be known, perhaps for using the proceeds for religious or social benefits. They cannot be allowed to lie in the kallaras. The artefacts may be kept in a museum independent of the temple.”

Justice Raveendran told counsel: “We are concerned in preserving the temple tradition and its sanctity. In the name of videography somebody should not go inside the temple sanctum sanctorum. When people know that these jewellery or artefacts are in the kallaras, instead of looking at the deity, they will be looking only at the kallaras and the focus will shift from God to [the] kallaras.”

The Bench, therefore, asked Mr. Varma and the State of Kerala to give suggestions on how the artefacts could be preserved and protected without affecting the temple tradition.

The Bench directed that until further orders, the opening of Kallara ‘B' should be postponed. Kallara ‘A', already opened, need not be re-opened for the present.

The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on July 14.

Source

[ajithv]

• NO EXCEPTION: A policeman, in a specially designed uniform, gets ready to enter Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Trousers and shirts are not allowed to be worn in the temple.

Source : The Hindu

[ajithv]

What do we know about the Indian kings who presided over the Kerala temple where an extraordinary treasure trove has reportedly been found?


Precious stones, gold and silver are among valuables said to have been found at the temple

The royal family of India's erstwhile southern kingdom of Travancore has a long history of resistance. A year before independence in 1947, the kingdom - one of more than 500 princely states - raised the banner of revolt and demanded freedom for itself.

"Travancore will become an independent country," a feisty representative said in 1946. "There was no particular reason why we should be in a worse position than Denmark, Switzerland and Siam." It was no empty talk from a proud dynasty. They downed a Dutch fleet in 1741, a rare example of an Asian state inflicting a naval defeat on a European power.

But finally, under immense pressure, the kingdom relented and joined India. One of the things the family was allowed to retain was its magnificent 16th Century Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Wild speculation

So, many are not surprised that existing members of the former royal family contested a petition of a devotee in the Supreme Court seeking a state takeover of the showpiece temple on the grounds that its controllers were incapable of protecting its riches. India's highest court ordered a count of the temple's wealth - and this has triggered off a tsunami of wild speculation.

The media is awash with wildly speculative reports about the treasures buried in the temple's six underground vaults. They talk about "very old gold chains, diamonds and precious stones which cannot be valued in terms of money".

One report talks of 450 golden pots, 2,000 rubies and jewel-studded crowns, 400 gold chairs and the statue of a deity studded with 1,000 diamonds. Apparently, all this amounted to 65 "treasure sacks" which could be worth some $20bn - more than India's annual education budget. The truth is that all of this is speculation, and the people who were sent to value the riches have been told to submit the inventory and its value to the court.

Still, it is reasonably clear that like many thriving temples in India, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy in Kerala's capital Trivandrum contains considerable wealth. These are proceeds from what one historian calls "taxes, gifts from devotees, bribes and looted wealth of conquered states". One indicator is a report from 1931 when at least one vault of the temple was opened for an inventory. (Again, contrary to many reports this is not the first time the vaults of the temple have been opened.)

A bit of drama accompanied the opening of the vault then. The rusting locks were broken after a two-and-a-half hour effort and an ambulance waited outside to attend to any "emergency". Floodlights and torches lit up the place, and fans pumped air into the vaults. Officials found "four chests made of brass which contained old coins"; a "granary-like thing" full of gold and silver coins; gold pots; and a six-chamber wooden chest full of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones. They also found more than 300 gold pots. The 1931 report talks about four such cellars.

In 1933, Emily Gilchrist Hatch wrote a travel guide for Travancore. She recorded that the "temple had a vast amount of wealth lain in vaults". She wrote that 25 years earlier, temple authorities would open the vaults and use the wealth "when the state required additional money". Ms Hatch walked the thin line between fact and fiction when she wrote that a group of people tried to enter the vaults once, found it "infested with cobras" and fled. When I related this to historian friends, they laughed heartily.

Benefactor royals

Historians, like MG Sasibhooshan who has written a history of the temple, say it is no surprise that the Sree Padmanabhaswamy is a rich temple.

The Travancore ruling family follows a matrilineal tradition. So there was no dowry going out for grooms' families when the dynasty's girls got married, and money remained in the family. The dynasty was also hailed as a progressive one among India's princely states. It introduced English education in the state in the early 19th Century (the first kingdom in southern India to do so), opened the gates of all temples - including Sree Padmanabhaswamy - to the lower castes and untouchables in 1936, and abolished capital punishment in 1946. (Of course, this was reinstated after India became independent the following year.)


The current Maharajah of Travancore has been the managing trustee of the temple


Challenged by the missionaries, the dynasty opened a number of their own schools. The kingdom paid for the education of a poor Dalit [untouchable] boy called KR Narayanan and funded his scholarship to London School of Economics. Mr Narayanan became the first Dalit president of India in 1997. In 1956, royal family members invested in an English trading company and acquired it in 1971 when the English company divested its holdings. The family's links with Britain endure - historian MG Sasibhooshan says the company still supplies pepper to Buckingham Palace.

So who does the much talked-about treasure of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple belong to? Many argue such wealth belongs to the people now and indeed all such wealth could be used for public good.

Kerala's chief minister has said the wealth belongs to the temple, something which many historians agree with. The temple, they say, is a private family property. There are still others who believe that the wealth comes under the purview of an antiquated colonial law called the Indian Treasure Trove Act, dating back to 1878, which says that when any treasure "exceeding in amount of value 10 rupees is found", the finder should inform the authorities, who in turn would try to trace its owners. So will the erstwhile rulers of Travancore retain their treasure they believe rightfully belongs to them?

Source : BBC News

[ajithv]

The Supreme Court restrained the seven-member committee from opening vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.



Source : Kerala Kaumudi



Source : Mathrubhumi



Source : Metro Vaartha



Source : Malayala Manorama

[ajithv]

Source : Mathrubhumi