Outlook – July 06, 2019

TEMPLE TALE

And why were they found in the record

room of the district collectorate instead

of the strong room in the district treas­

ury where they are supposed to be? And

why is the government sitting on the

inquiry report instead of making it

public and acting on it?

In the absence of any answers, either

by the temple administration or the

state government, the field has been

left wide open for all kinds of spec­

ulation. Most people in Odisha are now

convinced that the state government is

reluctant to enter the Ratna Bhandar

and do a much needed stocktaking

because it knows the bulk of the jewel­

lery has gone missing.

Since no inventory has been made for

over four decades now, no one knows

the size of the temple wealth. But even

the most conservative estimate by

those in the know puts the figure at

several hundred crores. “Top jewellers

from Mumbai and Gujarat had been

inv ited to assess the value of the orna­

ments during the reign of the Gajapati

king, but they failed to put a figure to it

as they had never before seen some of

the rare diamonds they found inside.

You can guess the size of the wealth

then,” Surendra Mishra, an expert on

the Jagannath cult, had told Outlook

when the controversy broke last year.

Mishra believed that only a CBI inq­

uiry would bring out the truth. But

that is asking for too much from a state

government that has been sitting over

the inquiry report on the missing keys

for over six months now. O

18 OUTLOOK 8 July 2019

by Sabin Iqbal in

Thiruvananthapuram

T

HE heat and dust over the

treasures in the underground

chambers of Sri Padmanabhas-

wamy Temple in Kerala cap-

ital Thiruvananthapuram has not

sett led despite a lull in the storm.

While the Supreme Court is yet to

decide on whether to open the con-

troversial Vault B, which the Tra-

vancore Royal family, for centuries

the custodians of this temple, says

should never be opened, the state

government has been undecided

over what to do with the immense

wealth discovered from the rest of

the total six chambers.

The temple became the centre of

global attention when it was

discovered nearly a decade ago

that its secret underground

chambers contained gold and

diamonds worth more than a

lakh crore rupees. The rev­

elations had pitchforked Sri

Padmanabhaswamy Temple

into being one of the world’s

richest temples.

Now, there are two pressing

questions: Should Vault B be

opened? And who should control

the temple administration—the

Kerala government or the trus­

tees? Opening the vault, which

has been estimated to hold much

more wealth than the other five,

will be against faith and tradi­

tion, the royal family has said.

And Krishnan Venugopal, who app­

eared in the apex court for the royal

family, argued against the Kerala High

Court’s verdict that the government

should take over the administration,

said: “I strongly oppose the verdict

that declared the trustee has no rights

over the temple. The king of Tra­

vancore constructed the temple. Later,

in 1750, he dedicated his princely state

to Lord Padmanabhaswamy and dec­

lared himself the servant of the presid­

ing deity.” The BJP has issued a

warning that if the government tried

to take over the administration of the

temple, they would respond with

rallies and protests.

There are six underground cham­

bers—A to F. Chambers E and F are

opened quite frequently as they hold

utensils used for temple rituals. C and

D have gold and silver jewellery used

during special occasions. A and B hold

exotic treasures, and with A alone

containing treasures worth over Rs 1

lakh crore, all eyes are on B. Some of

the items in A included a three­and­a­

half­feet­tall pure golden idol of

Mahavishnu, studded with hundreds

of diamonds, rubies and other pre­

cious stones, an 18­feet­long pure

gold chain, a gold sheaf weighing 500

kg, a 36­kg golden veil, 1,200 Sara­

ppalli gold coin­chains encrusted

with precious stones, and several

sacks full of golden artifacts, neck­

laces, diamonds, rubies, sapphires

and emeralds.

An official attempt was made to

enter Vault B in 2012. The exam­

iners removed an iron grille, the

first line of defence. Then, after

an antechamber, there was a

window secured by three locks.

They removed two locks, but

were unable to open the third.

In the present political

sce nario, the Kerala govern­

ment, led by the LDF, which

suffered a debacle in the recent

Lok Sabha polls, is unlikely to

make any ‘bold’ move to take

over the temple administration.

Such a move could rub the

Hindus the wrong way, and

backfire like the decision on the

Sabarimala temple. O

The Fault in Vault B

THE LORD’S UNSEEN WEALTH

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple

AP