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Spotlight on ancient Kerala temple as efforts to open 2nd secret vault gather steam
The 16th century Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, situated in the heart of the state capital, shot to fame six years ago when one of its six vaults was found to contain ancient valuables estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore. The second chamber – codenamed vault B – is believed to contain more wealth than the first.
All eyes are on the sealed vault B of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, one of the richest shrines in the world, with Supreme Court-appointed amicus curie Gopal Subramanium expected to arrive at the state capital on Tuesday to hasten the process of opening it.
The 16th century temple, situated in the heart of the state capital, shot to fame six years ago when one of its six vaults (later codenamed A) was found to contain ancient valuables estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore.
During the last hearing, Subramanium had impressed upon the apex court the need to open the B vault of the temple in order to complete the inventory of its assets. He will meet members of the erstwhile Travancore royal family, the former custodian of the temple, and other stakeholders to evolve a consensus on the matter.
The royal family and a section of devotees have opposed the opening of the sealed chamber on the grounds that such an action would “violate the sanctity of the temple”. They had earlier conducted an astrological ritual – devaprasnam – to perceive the mood of the deity, and informed the court that opening the vault amounted to violating the temple tradition in a manner that would invite divine wrath. The apex court, however, rebuked the royal family for putting superstition before the law.
There are many beliefs surrounding the B vault, including one claiming that it houses an underground tunnel linking the temple to the Arabian Sea. However, a team of experts from the Centre for Earth Science Studies has ruled out the presence of any such passage. Though the team – led by Dr Ajaykumar Verma – did find small cavities and drains around the structures, they were deemed insignificant.
Another myth states that the sree chakra – a place that symbolically contains the powers of the deity as well as the universe – is located just beneath the vault, and opening the door would displace it.
There are six chambers, A to F, located under the temple’s sanctum sanctorum. While a couple of these are opened for pooja every day, two others are unlocked twice a year. Vault A used to be a secret vault until it was opened in 2011 on the Supreme Court’s orders.
According to sources in the temple, the antique coins found in the sealed chamber alone weighed over 600 kg. Of the two lakh items documented by government officials, 600 were found embedded with invaluable gems. Besides this, the inventory also listed precious stones, necklaces, golden crowns and pots. Special equipment was used to chart all the valuables, and list them in accordance with their purity and age.
In 2009, retired IPS officer TP Sundararajan had filed a petition alleging extensive pilferage of valuables from the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. He claimed that precious ornaments and jewels were being smuggled out of the shrine, and replaced with cheap copies. In the years that followed, the Supreme Court ordered that the valuables be inventoried and the royal family divested of its hold over the temple management.
Sundararajan died at the age of 70 in 2012, while the contents of vault A were still being examined.
Officials believe vault B may contain more wealth than the first one.
