Zaid Hamid will claim this was Mahmud Ghaznavis Roh at work
On a more serious note, why did the temple have so much gold? Is it a religious practice to store gold or is it for beauty?
Temple assets
The temple and its assets belong to Lord
Padmanabhaswamy, and were for a long time
controlled by a trust, headed by the Travancore Royal
family. However, for the present, the Supreme Court of
India has divested the Travancore Royal Family from
leading the management of the temple. [28][29][30][31]
T P Sundara Rajan's litigations changed the way the
world looked at the Temple.
In June 2011, the Supreme Court directed the
authorities from the archaeology department and the
fire services, to open the secret chambers of the
temple for inspection of the items kept inside. [32] The
temple has six hitherto known vaults (Kallaras), labeled
as A to F, for book keeping purpose by the Court
(Since, however, an Amicus Curie Report by Justice
Gopal Subramaniam, in April 2014, has reportedly found
two more further subterranean vaults that have been
named G and H). While vaults A and B have been
unopened over the past many years the vaults C to F
have been opened from time to time. The two priests
of the temple, the 'Periya Nambi' and the 'Thekkedathu
Nambi', are the custodians of the four vaults, C to F,
which are opened periodically. The Supreme Court had
directed that "the existing practices, procedures and
rituals" of the temple be followed while opening vaults
C to F and using the articles inside. While Vaults A and
B would be opened only for the purpose of making an
inventory of the articles and then closed.
The review of the temple's underground vaults was
undertaken by a seven-member panel appointed by the
Supreme Court of India to generate an inventory,
leading to the enumeration of a vast collection of
articles that are traditionally kept under lock and key. A
detailed inventory of the temple assets, consisting of
gold, jewels, and other valuables is yet to be made.
Among the reported findings, are a three-and-a-half
feet tall pure golden idol of Mahavishnu , studded with
rubies and emeralds and various other kinds of
precious stones. [33] Also found were an 18-foot-long
pure gold chain, a gold sheaf weighing 500 kilos, a 36-
kilo golden veil, 1200 'Sarappalli' gold coins, and
several sacks filled with golden artifacts, diamonds,
rubies, sapphires, emeralds, gemstones, and objects
made out of other precious metals and stones.[34][35]
[36][37] Ceremonial attire for adorning the deity in the
form of 16-part gold anki weighing almost 30 kilograms
(66 lb), gold coconut shells studded with rubies and
emeralds, and several 18th century Napoleonic era
coins were found many other objects.[2] In 2012, an
expert committee had been appointed to investigate
these objects, which include coins of the Roman
Empire .[38] According to Vinod Rai, the former
Comptroller-and-Auditor-General(CAG) of India, who
had audited some of the Temple records in August
2014, in the already opened vault A, there is an 800-kilo
hoard of Greek and Roman coins, dating to around 100
B.C, each coin priced at over 2.70 crores.[39]
This revelation has solidified the status of the
Padmanabhaswamy Temple as the wealthiest temple in
the world [40] It is conservatively estimated that the
value of the monumental items is close to 1.2 lakh
crore or 1.2 trillion (US$19 billion). If the antique and
cultural value were taken into account these assets
could be worth ten times the current market price. [41]
These estimates were on the basis of the revelations
since July 2011, when five vaults were opened, with
the remaining one vault (B), which is the largest, still
closed. One of the oldest existing estimates regarding
Vault B, which can be considered to be at least as
reliable as any other made since the discovery of the
hidden treasure (or assets) of the Temple in 2011, was
done by the Travancore Royal Family itself in 1931.
According to the then drawn-up estimate, the riches
contained in Vault B, which is the only vault (of the
reported six) that is unopened so far, since the
discovery of the treasure, were worth 12,000 crores.
Considering the subsequent inflation of the rupee, and
the increase in the prices of gold and other precious
metals and stones since, the treasure in the unopened
vault B alone, would be worth at least 50 trillion (US$
1 trillion) in present-day terms, before the cultural
value being factored in.[42] For reference, the entire
wealth of the Mughal Empire at its very zenith under
Aurangzeb (in 1690), was a mere US$ 90 billion in
modern-day terms. [43][44] Also, in contrast, the
wealthiest Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan, Asaf
Jah VII , was worth a relatively miniscule 1600 crores
in the 1940s. [45]
The valuables are thought to have been in the temple
for several thousands of years, having been donated
to the Deity (and subsequently stored there), by
various Dynasties, like the Cheras , the Pandyas , the
Travancore Royal Family , the Kolathiris , many other
Kings in the recorded history of both South India and
beyond, and from the rulers and traders of
Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and later, the various
colonial powers from Europe and other countries as
well. [7][8][9][27][38][46][47][48] Some conventional
scholars have suggested that a major chunk of the
stored riches reached the kings in the form of tax,
gifts, as well as conquered wealth of states and
offerings stocked in the temple for safekeeping. [49]
Many scholars however believe that this was
accumulated over thousands of years, given the
mention of the Deity and the Temple in several extant
Hindu Texts, the Sangam Tamil literature (500 BC to
300 AD where it was possibly referred to as the "Golden
Temple"), and the treasures consist of countless
artifacts dating back to the Chera, Pandya,
Mesopotamin, Greek and Roman kingdoms. [7][8][9][27]
[38][46][48][50] Also, it has to be remembered that in
the Travancore Kingdom, a distinction was always
made between the Government (State) Treasury
(Karuvelam), the Royal Family Treasury (Chellam), and
the Temple Treasury (Thiruvara Bhandaram or Sri
Bhandaram). During the reign of Maharani Gowri
Lakshmi Bayi, hundreds of temples that were
mismanaged, were brought under the Government. The
excess ornaments in these temples were also
transferred to the Vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy
Temple. Instead the funds of the Padmanabha Temple
were utilised for the daily upkeep of these temples.
On 4 July 2011 the seven-member expert team tasked
with taking stock of the temple assets decided to
postpone opening of Sri Mahabharatakonathu Kallara
or Chamber 'B'. This chamber is sealed with an iron
door with the image of a cobra on it and it has not
been opened, due to the belief opening it would result
in much misfortune. [51] The royal family said that
many legends were attached to the temple and that
chamber B has a model of a snake on the main door
and opening it could be a bad omen. [52] The seven-
member team will consult with some more experts on
8 July 2011 and then they may take the final decision
on opening of chamber ‘B’. [53] An Ashtamangala
Devaprasnam conducted in the Temple to discern the
will of the Lord revealed that any attempts to open
Chamber 'B' would cause Divine displeasure and that
the holy articles in the other chambers were defiled in
the inventorying process. [17] The original petitioner
whose court action led to the inventory taking, T.P.
Sundarajan, died in July 2011, adding credence to
those who believe in the folklore around the temple.
[54]
The Kerala High Court ruled in 2011 that the state
government should take over the control of the temple
and its assets, but the Travancore royal family
appealed to the Supreme Court. [55] An independent
report was commissioned, and was completed in
November 2012, [56] finding no evidence that the royalel
family were expropriating the treasures. [55]
As of July 2012, inventorization and valuation of the
items in vaults C, D E and F were 90% complete, while
formal inventorization of vault A was underway, and
vault B was yet to be opened. The results of the
inventory are not to be released until the completion of
the whole process by order of the Supreme Court of
India. [56]
you should visit indian thread often to understand the mentality of the extremist hindus.... secular or "Sickular" is a no kosher/haram word for them... sometimes they boast about killing minorites etc aswell.. to show their bravado...
