By god, what a treasure!
The stupendous treasure retrieved from the secret cellars of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here consists of wealth brought back by kings after invasions, tributes to the royalty, fines, and offerings from far and wide to the powerful deity.
The Travancore kings ruled for close to 1,000 years and from the time of the heroic Marthanda Varma (1706–1758), Lord Padmanabha was the ‘ruler’ of the land and the king became his ‘servant’ (Padmanabha Dasa). So the temple, in fact, became the treasury of the state.
Malayankeezhu Gopalakrishnan, an expert on Travancore History, told ‘Deccan Chronicle’ that Marthanda Varma who invaded and defeated several nearby kingdoms including Kayamkulam, Chempakaserri and Kottayam, stretching up to Kochi, brought back lot of wealth, which was deposited in the temple coffers.
“It was the practice of the Travancore kings to hand over all the wealth they got from wars to the Lord,” he said.
The value of the treasure found in the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here surged to around `75,000 crore on Saturday with the expert panel completing the inventory of articles found from secret cellar A.
A resplendent gem-studded idol of Lord Mahavishnu, an 18-feet thanka anki (golden dress) which weighs over 35 kg, a large stock of traditional ornaments including kasumala, adukkumala and rasi rings, were found in the cellar, apart from a collection of gold coins.
Golden statuettes (aal roopangal) and rare stones were also retrieved on the sixth day of examination by the panel.
The panel is expected to examine the secret cellar B on Monday and also cellar F where ornaments and articles used for daily rituals in the temple are kept.
“I think the real value of the articles would exceed the figure being touted now when their antique value is also taken into consideration,” said Gopalakrishnan. “Even a low denomination gold coin of the Dutch era will be priced over `50,000.”
Another source of the temple’s wealth was litigation. In the olden days, crimes, family quarrels, disputes and sundry legal wrangles were settled through payment of fines, all which went to the temple treasury.
“Gold ornaments and articles were offered to the Lord as recompense for many offences including violation of caste laws,” said a palace official.
Gopalakrishnan added that the Travancore kings also got gifts from royalty across the world, which found their way to the secret cellars. “Also, the temple was one of the most famous Vaishnava shrines of old and the deity got offerings from kings across India,” he said.
Certain records also indicate that during Tipu Sultan’s invasion, wealth from many important households and principalities was brought to Thiruvananthapuram and was hidden in the temple cellars.
The kings truly considered the Lord to be the custodian of the wealth. They borrowed from him time and again for state purposes and but paid him back with interest. “It goes to the credit of the Travancore kings that they kept the treasure intact,” said Gopalakrishnan. “They led simple lives when compared to other royals.”
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