Fire accident at Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple

Kerala temple to be back in the limelight

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a brief interval, the richest deity in the country will be back in the limelight. The preparation of an inventory of the treasure inside the vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple will be done again by a new five-member committee from Monday.

The Supreme Court appointed committee with National Museum Institute Vice-Chancellor C V Anandabose as coordinator will meet on Monday to decide the modalities to be followed to assess the treasure.

Anandabose will arrive here on Sunday. Archaeological Conservation head of the National Museum Institute M V Nair, temple executive officer V K Harikumar and one official each from the Reserve Bank of India and the Archaeological Survey of India are the other members of the committee.

The Apex Court has also nominated a three-member committee comprising justice M N Krishnan, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (head of the Travancore royal family) and Devaswom Secretary K Jayakumar for monitoring the preparation of the inventory. Krishnan and Jayakumar were part of the earlier sevenmember committee appointed by the Court to carry out inventorying. It was Ravi Varma who represented Marthanda Varma during the early exercise as the latter had cited frail health.

The Supreme Court, in its verdict on July 21, had directed the new committee to prepare a scientific assessment of the wealth in the vaults. Videography and photography of the treasure should also be done. According to the verdict, it is to be done by agencies from the Police or government departments, instead of entrusting the job with private parties.

However, the mode of working of the new committee, including the dates and timings of inventorying, is yet to be decided. According to sources, only after the committee meeting on Monday that any further clarification in this regard will be made. It was on June 27 that the preparation of the inventory began. When the five vaults A, C, D, E and F were opened, the treasure amounted to Rs 1 lakh crore, which is an unofficial estimate. The B vault is yet to be opened.

The Supreme Court will take a decision on whether to open or not the vault B only after the present committee submits its initial report on the inventorying.

I’m A Vassal Of The Lord’

Sree Utthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the patriarch of the erstwhile Travancore royal family, talks of his intimate relationship with the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, whose vaults contained treasures worth over Rs 1 lakh crore. A last vault—kallara B—is yet to be opened and the Supreme Court-appointed panel will make the call on whether to do so. However, Marthanda Varma refrained from speaking about the vaults and the treasure, saying the matter was sub-judice.
Minu Ittyipe met with Marthanda Varma at the Pattom Palace, tucked away behind the sut hospital, hidden from the casual onlooker. The shankha (conch shell) emblem of the Travancore royal family embellishes the palace gates, the bevy of cars and even the grills of the palace windows. A devotional chorus swells down the corridor as Marthanda Varma, in a simple blue shirt and mundu, greets us. A 1939 Solix watch adorns his left hand. “I have 31 watches, each of a different make,” he says. “All of them, gifts.”
It is said that the Padmanabhaswamy temple is your life and breath. What is your relationship to the temple?
In the Ramayana, there is a fantastic illustration of what you have asked. At the moment of Sree Rama’s coronation as the king of Ayodhya—Rama was in the middle with Sita on one side, Lakshman and Bharath on the other and Hanuman at his feet, with his hands folded. Sita asked Rama why he was spending so much time gazing at the monkey. Rama plucked a hair from Hanuman’s back and placed it in Sita’s ear. The hair was reciting: ‘Ram, Ram’. If you examine my skin, you’d see that I get goose pimples and my hair stands on end when I hear Lord Padmanabha’s name. He completely saturates me. That is what I want.
The idea of decreeing the kingdom as a Padmanabhadasa is a unique one. The creation of such a position by Marthanda Varma in 1750 must surely have had its political advantages?

I get goose pimples and my hair stands on end when I hear Lord Padmanabha’s name. The Lord completely saturates my entire being.

In all our dealings, we have never thought of using Him as a means for a political end. It was an act of pure surrender. In the early 16th century, King Henry the VIII of England, for various domestic reasons, wanted to remarry without the consent of the Pope. He asked his ecclesiastical counsel to come up with a solution. They suggested the King create a new church, which was called the Church of England, and fashion himself as the Defender of the Faith.
We are only attenders of the faith. In our case, after we won the wars during the formation of Travancore, we didn’t want any glory. My ancestor Marthanda Varma surrendered the state, his family and himself to Sree Padmanabha and he became a vassal to him.
We come from a very old family. It is divided into three parts. One is beyond the scope of the historic, the second puranic and the third is historically dated from 870 AD. From the first Ay family to the present generation, our family has always been humble, humane and god-oriented.
Is that the reason behind the Travancore royal family’s reputation for leading a simple lifestyle?
There are two reasons. One, our culture was not easily invaded and we were left alone. Two, we are much more religiously oriented than the kings in the north. These traditions keep us steadfast on behaviour, food habits and living habits. For instance, since 870 AD, no one in the family has imbibed drink, been given to smoking or eaten meat. Our family does not travel abroad, we prefer to stay at home. What you wear, what you eat and how you live must be suited to the surroundings. Otherwise, it would be toxic.
Is it true that people turn poetic when they enter the temple?
Yes, about 40 years ago, a maharajah who had come down from the extreme north of India sang bhajans in the temple for 15 minutes. Nobody has asked him to do that. It had moved him so.
What do you miss most about the old city of Thiruvananthapuram?
The very name Thiruvananthapuram is derived from Sree Ananthapuram, meaning blessed eternal city. The old city was built in keeping with the surroundings. We have now gone the modern route and imported architectural patterns from all over the world. The styling of the buildings is all muddled and confused and the finishes are all foreign to the land. It does not meld with the surroundings at all. I miss the old architectural patterns. It’s my home I like the most. It has remained unchanged.

Faulty Metal Detectors at Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple

There are four metal detectors in Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala to gaurd an estimated 1 lakh crore valued treasure and all the four are said to be faulty. Additional Director General of Police Venugopal K. Nair, who is currently overseeing the security of the temple, said that the metal detectors work on and off.

Earlier it was reported that of the four metal detectors kept at the four entrances leading to the main temple, two do not work while the other two always have the red light on. The temple is managed by an executive committee, with the erstwhile Travancore royal family overseeing the affairs of the committee. However, Aditya Varma, scion of the royal family, said that only one metal detector is faulty. "I checked up with the officials and I was told that three are functioning, while the fourth one at times does not work. With this TV report, we will immediately see that if there are any errors, it would be rectified," Varma said.

Last month, a Supreme Court appointed team while conducting a stock taking had stumbled upon precious jewellery, rubies and diamonds at one of the six vaults in the temple. Vault A contains the most precious items and has not been opened for the past 150 years while Vault B is yet to be opened. The second round of stock taking would begin early next month and the process would be video graphed. Meanwhile, Nair said that "very soon we will have our own state of the art security gadgets installed in and around the temple. At a given time, over 200 police officers are posted in and around the temple premises. We also have our men where the vaults are kept".
 

New post created to guard Kerala temple treasure

Thiruvananthapuram:  Kerala on Tuesday created a new post of the rank of a superintendent of police to specifically protect the treasure estimated at Rs.1 lakh crore found in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

"We are looking into various measures on the state-of-the-art security arrangements that should be put up in the temple premises," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after the weekly cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram.

The state government has posted a round-the-clock security ring around the temple since a treasure was found in five of its six chambers.

The Supreme Court last week appointed a five-member committee headed by Director General of National Museum C.V. Ananda Bose to film and photograph the articles found in vault A of the temple. Another three-member committee, to be headed by Justice M.N. Krishnan, was set up to oversee the operations of the expert committee.

The expert committee will categorise all the articles broadly under three heads - ornaments of historical, artistic and antique value, those which are of regular use, and those which are of monetary value only.

The committee will suggest steps for long-term preservation and security of the treasure and also the feasibility of setting up a high-security museum within the temple complex, the court said.

Supreme court has set up a committee to decide on opening of chamber B

Thiruvananthapuram:  Should the underground chambers referred to as Secret Vault B be opened at Kerala's famous Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple? The Supreme Court has set up a committee to decide the contentious issue.

Five of the six vaults at the temple have been opened in the last few weeks to jaw-dropping effect. Gold coins, jewellery and statues estimated to be worth one lakh crores were discovered. Most of them were deposited by the former royal family of Travancore which built the temple to Lord Vishnu in the 16th century.  Descendants of the royal family still supervise the Trust that manages the temple.  

The debate over whether to open Vault B stems from local superstition that entering it will lead to bad luck.  

An expert committee with five members will debate how to handle devotees' reservations. The panel will be headed by Dr CV Ananda Bose from the National Museum and will include representatives of the Reserve Bank of India and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The committee will also supervise the inventory of the temple treasure which will be documented with videos and photos. The experts will also decide what items can be kept for public display in the temple.

Security at the temple has been an issue of local concern. Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has deputed a sizeable police force to safeguard the treasure. Control rooms devoted to the temple have also been set up.

Silent film on Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in 1930

Thiruvananthapuram:  While discovery of huge treasures from vaults of the famed Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala's capital has revived interest in history and culture of Travancore, a silent film made in 1933 focussing on a turbulent phase in the princely state's history has been taken out of the box where it has been lying unseen for decades.

The film, which tells the story of Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varama (1706-1758), creator of modern Travancore, also has prefixed to it rare footage of the 'arattu festival' shot in 1930s; perhaps the only motion picture documentation of the temple and its customs as existed in the early 20th century.

Titled Marthandavarma, it is an adaptation of the famous novel by Malayalam's literary icon C V Raman Pillai, published in 1891.

The literary classic, which followed the style of 'historical romances' of English novelist Walter Scott, narrates the story of Marthanda Varma, who renovated the temple in the present form and dedicated his kingdom to the presiding deity and declared himself and his descendants to be 'Padmanabhadasas' (servants of Lord Padmanabha).

His assumption of power was preceded by a gory phase of power struggle and civil war in Travancore as he had to suppress open rebellion by a clique of powerful Nair chieftains, the 'Ettuveettil Pillamar', who wanted a puppet to be enthroned in place of a farsighted statesman of great courage like Mathanda Varma.

According to Dr M K P Nair, general secretary of Filca film society, the movie version was made by R Sundararaj in 1933 and directed by south Indian film veteran P V Rao.

The 110-minute film, however, was jinxed right from the day of release as its fate was to remain canned after running into a legal suit over title rights claimed by the publisher of the novel.

Decades later in 1974, the lone surviving print was traced by former Curator of National Film Archives P K Nair and preserved in the Pune archives.

Recently, a DVD version was made and screened, after eight decades, at the Filca international film festival held here a couple of months back, Nair said.

"It was an absorbing, full-length feature film that can be enjoyed scene by scene without getting bored. English subtitles were added recently to enable viewers unfamiliar with the history of Travancore follow the storyline easily," he said.

The film has one of the earliest documentaries in Indian motion picture history with a 10 minute sequence showing the 'arattu procession' of the temple with the last Maharaja of Travancore, Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma, leading soldiers, policemen and officials with a raised sword.

The documentation provides vivid scenes of streets around the temple, the vast pond in front and the whole fortified area where the temple and allied buildings are located.

Nair said the film was screened only a single day at the then Capitol theatre in Thiruvananthapuram as the very next day screening was stopped through a court order and the print confiscated after a title suit filed by the novel's publisher.

When retraced, some part of the print was damaged beyond repair and the remaining part in brittle shape.It was taken to the National Film Archives and restored and preserved with the help of modern technology. "Perhaps this is one of the very few Indian films of the silent era whose prints have survived the ravages of time," Dr Nair said.

Balagopalan, freelance film historian and antique buff, said it is an interesting film not simply due to its antiquity, but due to powerful portrayal of characters and vivid narration of situations.

It was also the first time a Malayalam literary classic had its movie version and the director had taken great care to do justice to the original as narrated by Raman Pillai.

It offers glimpses of state craft, power struggles and intrigues of the day as well as martial art forms and costumes of men and women in the 18th century. It also throws valuable insight into the lifestyle of not only royals and nobles of the day, but also the common man, Balagopalan said.

Wasted wealth

Imagine if the wealth had been used to build industries when industrialisation was taking shape in the world?

The hidden wealth of at least one lakh crore of rupees being dug out from the treasuries of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple of Thiruvananthapuram tells a new story. It tells the story that the Hindu spiritual system had a practice of hiding wealth in the form of gold coins, ornaments, diamonds, pearls and so on in underground tunnels. This wealth had been there for centuries. It became a ‘Guptadhana,’ which had no social use or value. One right wing columnist, in one of his articles, argues that this wealth was buried by the Travancore king Dhrama Raja underground in 1789 when he perceived a threat of plunder by Tipu Sultan who was about to invade the state. He also tells us that Tipu Sultan, however, did not invade Travancore state, yet the rulers of that dynasty kept the wealth underground safe since then. This is not the only temple where such wealth is buried but there are many such temples where wealth is kept underground unused for any public or private purpose for centuries. Along with the discoveries at the Padmanabha temple, a spate of other reports like large amounts of money, gold and silver being found in Saibaba’s living castle at Puttaparti or the declared assets of over Rs 1,100 crore at Baba Ramdev’s ashram at Haridwar are shocking for many reasons. The value of Padmanabha temple treasures is estimated to be around five lakh crore rupees. That is five times higher than the annual budget of Andhra Pradesh. One foreign reporter valued it to be around 900 billon rupees. The total assets of Saibaba’s Prashantha Nilayam is not assessed. Certainly it will be of several thousands of crores of rupees. The Tirupati temple of Andhra Pradesh has thousands of crores worth of gold and silver. There are many other temples and Hindu institutions that have millions of dollars worth properties remaining there without any proper public use. How is this wealth getting accumulated around these religious institutions? Of course, one way is through donations being given by the rich ‘bhaktas’ of those temples and of the living babas. The other way is accumulation of illegal wealth around such institutions as they are out of the purview of legal checks. The main question is how do they use this wealth? For what purpose do they use it? The very culture of hoarding wealth for decades and centuries certainly affects the development of a nation. The wealth stored at the Padmanabha temple is a good example of non-use of such huge resources for a such a long time. Just imagine if this wealth had been used to build industries in the country at a time when industrialisation was taking shape in rest of the world? No utilitarian value In the medieval period, the Roman catholic church used to accumulate wealth like this. But the western Christian forces realised that such accumulation of wealth by the spiritual centres had no utilitarian value. The Protestant rebellion against the Catholic church changed that culture of hoarding wealth in churches and the Protestant churches became centres of investment and social service. The growth of business and industry took place only when the churches got out of the culture of hoarding wealth in the name of God. The western capitalism developed from such investments and re-investments.   In Saibaba’s ashram, huge amount of currency notes were found lying in bundles. Obviously this was nothing but black money. What was it meant for? It was meant to be spent for pomp and luxuries. Satya Saibaba was known for his pompous life style. Should a divine life be luxurious? How much wealth does an unmarried spiritual person need? In day-to-day discourses these babas preach about saints who were said to have lived a simple and spiritually dedicated life. The norms set by Shirdi Saibaba were different from that of Satya Saibaba. Is it necessary for a saint to sit in a chair made of gold? Historically hoarding of wealth by the spiritual centres did not allow indigenous capital to be developed. As a result the capitalist accumulation in India was so poor that hardly any industrial initiatives were taken up by the Hindu spiritual centres. Those who argue that the Muslim plunder as cause for hoarding wealth underground must tell us why huge wealth was hoarded around the Hindu spiritual centres even before the Muslim rulers invaded India? Why was the Indian economic system so weak that it could not build enough military power to checkmate such invasions? The main reason was hoarding wealth like this and never allowing it to be invested in the empowerment of people, army and development of infrastructure in the sub-continent. This was enjoined with the caste culture, which did not allow the untouchables and the other lower castes to use the wealth that was accumulated around the Hindu spiritual centres. People’s labour power was accumulated around temples in the form of gold, silver and currency of the contemporary period but their right to use that wealth by the working people was curtailed through caste-cultural system. This kind of hoarding of wealth has had serious implications to our science and industrial development as well. It is the duty of Indian economists to study the relationship between the hoarding of wealth and the underdevelopment that we suffered from over time. Article by

Kancha Ilaiah

Locals keen to volunteer security at Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple

Thiruvananthapuram, July 19 (ANI): A new twist has emerged in the government's latest security arrangements involving police and other crack outfits for the famed Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at Thiruvanathapuram where priceless treasure trove was unearthed recently. Local devotees and others residing in the neighbourhood of this temple contend that they too have a role in preserving sanctity and security of the temple. As such these locals have volunteered to co-opt with the new security set-up by pointing out that they are aware about the regular visitors at the temple and can identify unknown and suspicious persons easily. 

Love and hate for temple petitioner

Thiruvanthapuram,July 18 (TruthDive): The remains of the man who petitioned the Supreme Court for an inventory of Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple assets was cremated. Media persons were the only people who gathered to report the `event’ to immediate relatives and a priest of nearby temple.

The neighbours of the `agraharam’ (place where only Brahmins stay) where T P Sundarajan the 70- year old advocate and chronic bachelor lived stayed away from the funeral since they hated him for leading the cops and court officials to enter the temple to open the vaults.

Unanimously all of the residents including the youngsters felt that the sanctity of the temple was gone by the adamant stance of the advocate who had benefitted from the largesse of the Royal family.The body was cremated at Puthankotta where Brahmins are cremated at the place run by Brahmin association at Karmana in the city. This was where actor Srividya was cremated.

The nephew of Sunderajan who is also an advocate said that he would continue the fight of his uncle and that he died as a happy man of having achieved his goal. The neighbours feel that he invited the wrath of the deity even though he himself used to visit the temple at least five times. His food was the nivedyam (food offered to deity and then distributed to devotees).

He was living at Saranagathi, West Fort, near the ancient temple.Sundararajan had been running of high fever for the past two days, family sources said.He died at 12.45 am on Sunday. The cremation was held later in the day.Sundararajan,a bachelor, had come into spotlight after moving the Supreme Court that the wealth of the famed temple should be assessed.

Sundararajan belonged to the 1964 batch of IPS officers.Heserved in the CBI during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as PM.
Later,he put in his papers and returned home to care for his ailing father T K Padmanabha Iyer.

People now hunting for hidden treasure of Vijayanagara empire

ANANTAPUR: The treasure trove at the 16th century Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple worth over Rs 1 lakh crore is believed to be the largest discovery of its kind in India catching the authorities in Kerala by surprise and forcing the state government to deploy cops for a round-the-clock surveillance to the previously unguarded shrine. 


Following the discovery in Kerala temple, several groups of hunters and gangs are feverishly at work nearer home, in Anantapur district, to unearth gold, jewels, precious stones and antiques belonging to the Vijayanagara empire in the hope of raking in the moolah. The gangs are digging the forts, temples and other monuments of the Vijayanagara empire to unearth the riches. 


While the hunters were looking for bags of gold coins, diamonds and other jewels and solid gold statues of gods and goddesses, the alarming rise in the gold diggers' numbers has unnerved the cops. So much so, the gang members are moving along with hi-tech scanners and other equipment to excavate the hidden wealth, sources said. 


A gang of four members was arrested at Bukkapatnam by police recently when they were destroying an old statue of a goddess in the Siva temple built by the Vijayanagara rulers. A police official said following speculations that Penukonda, which was the summer capital of Vijayanagara kings, was a treasure trove of gold, diamonds and other jewellery several gangs have started operating in the area. 


"We are confident of striking it rich. We know that the kings had left behind a massive stockpile of jewellery in the forts, temples and monuments. Our men are at work," Manjunath, a gang leader from Madakasira, said. In fact, the entire hillock region in Penukonda, Gooty, Ratnagiri and Madakasira mandals where the Vijayanagara rulers have forts and monuments are being dug up by the gangs. 


Sources said the alleged treasure has revived questions as to who had managed to plunder the wealth, much of which was believed to have been deposited in the forts and temples by the royal family of the Vijayanagara kingdom in 16th century. Sources said some of the hidden treasures beneath the fort foundations have not been opened for several decades. 


Legend has it that diamonds and gold jewellery were transported on elephants, horses and bullock carts to Penukonda by the Vijayanagara rulers from their capital Hampi in Karnataka to protect the wealth from Muslim rulers in the 16th century. "A staggering stockpile of valuables was hidden in the temples, forts and memorials in the second capital of Penukonda by the kings. No wonder, the hunters and gangs are back with vengeance," historian Visvendra Sarma said. 


Pratap Reddy, advocate, said the authorities should immediately step in and protect the wealth from being pillaged by the gangs. In fact, one Kaleswar Baba of Penukonda is facing charges after he allegedly built a huge palace and multi-storied buildings after laying hands on the hidden treasures of Vijayanagara rulers 10 years ago. "There are also allegations that he had encroached the Vijayanagara fort and illegally raised structures there," a local not wanting to be named said. There were also charges that he was helped by district officials and politicians in this exercise. 


Sources said the famous Nandi in Siva temple atop Madakasira hill was dug up by the treasure hunters in the hope of finding gold jewellery, while the famous 'flower symbol' in Lord Vishnu temple in Kambadur was destroyed as the hunters suspected that it was embedded with lots of diamonds. "We have identified a gang from Tamil Nadu involved in the digging operations. We will nab them soon," a police official said. 

TP Sundererajan knew when and why he is going to die

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Advocate TP Sunderarajan, the 1964-batch IPS officer whose legal intervention led to the stock-taking of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple's colossal assets, died on Sunday, spurring talks of "divine retribution" among the believers. 

The 70-year-old passed away at about 12.45am at his brother's home around 30 metres from the shrine's west entrance. A family source said Sunderarajan, who was otherwise in good health, was uneasy and feverish for the last two days. On Saturday evening, he complained of wheezing and said he would not last until Sunday morning. He refused to take any medicine or go to a hospital. "At about 12.45am on Sunday, he said he wanted to go to the toilet, but collapsed before he could step in," a family source said. 

While some said his sudden death was divine retribution, others asserted he was not put through any suffering of old age. Stories of how tragedy had befallen those who entered the shrine, too, did the rounds during the day, but these could not be confirmed. 

Sunderarajan's health, who was behind the legal intervention for the stock-taking of Kerala's Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple's assets, deteriorated on Saturday evening. He had said he would not last until Sunday morning. His family members chose to dismiss his apprehensions; apparently he had said the same thing earlier as well. 

Sunderarajan also told a person close to him that he wanted to die before sunrise as otherwise the sun would pass from 'Uttarayana' (north) to Dakshinayana (south). According to Hindu texts, 'Uttarayana' is an auspicious time to leave the body. 

By about 8.30am, Sunderarajan's wheezing increased but he refused to take any medicine or go to a hospital. If he is relatives are to be believed, he never took medicines all his life. A home blood glucose test showed his level had dropped to 34. Intravenous glucose failed to revive the dipping sugar level. 

Sunderarajan had resigned from the Intelligence Bureau in 1974 to care for his ailing father T K Padmanabha Iyer who had lost his eyesight following a bout of diabetes. While in IB, he was a part of the inner security ring of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, said a family member. 

Sunderarajan was a bachelor living with his brother's family. The mortal remains were consigned to flames later in the day.

Across the silence of centuries

The treasures found in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram bring with them the gossamer rustle of mythology, of an age when the equations were different between the state, the temple and the king. An exploration of the issues thrown up by the discovery of such fabulous wealth.

In recent weeks, the accounting skills of the nation seem to have received a huge fillip. Transfixed by the magnitude of the golden treasures unearthed from one of the secret vaults of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, the media has variously tried to convey the approximate worth of these riches that have lain untouched for over 150 years. One newspaper numerically wrote out the estimated figure of Rs. 1 lakh crore — “Rs 1,000,000,000,000,” giving an almost tactile feel of a gravy train in the high noon of monetisation. Another newspaper calculated this sum as being more than the budget of Delhi, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, 50 per cent higher than Posco's proposed $12 billion Indian investment and almost equalling Wipro's Rs 1.04 lakh crore market capitalisation. An online reader in the time of reality TV had just one belligerent demand: Cover live the opening up of the remaining vault!

It may have taken long for these centuries' old treasures to be exhumed from the lamp black darkness of the vaults, but the responses they have triggered above ground have been fast and furious. There are those steeped in the lore of 18th century king Marthanda Varma. After all, the architect of Travancore kingdom dedicated it to the presiding deity and was content to rule as Padmanabha's dasa (servant), thus sealing an unbreakable association. Why, missing a day's darshan means paying a fine of Rs. 155 for Marthanda Varma's eponymous descendant even today though he is not a royal anymore nor has a kingdom. For, India's Constitutional democracy has long dispensed with monarchy.

Evolving questions

Many others, their minds buzzing with facts of a year of humungous, well-publicised scams and campaigns against black money, tend to look at this hitherto undisclosed wealth as being of the people and for social good. They wonder what spirituality has to do with wealth of such staggering proportions. Moreover if not in circulation, such hoarded piety is a ‘waste'. Isn't this lapsed nexus between temple and royalty an anachronism? Implicit in these morsels of daily debate is the question of relationship between the state, the temple and the people.

There was a historical juncture when the king-temple connection emerged as the backbone of the state in early medieval south India. Kesavan Veluthat, expert on South Indian history, puts it succinctly in his work The Early Medieval in South India. “One of the major markers of the early medieval in South Indian history was the temple dedicated to…Siva or Visnu.” By the 7th and 8th centuries, certain trajectories had emerged: “…opening up of the fertile river valleys for agricultural purposes, covering of the landscape by a network of big and small Brahmana settlements, studding of the territory with a large number of temples commanding vast extents of land as their property and all the entailing privileges and, of course, burgeoning of monarchy…”

Emerging state

The temple brought local populations to labour for surplus, reorganising them as a stratified caste society, creating conditions for state power to emerge. “The temple put the stamp of legitimacy on the new polity and this in turn guaranteed patronage for the temple,” writes Veluthat adding it was around that time that Brahmanical ideology established its strong grip on society. Over time, the temple “which was a landed magnate, also developed into a storehouse of gold and silver and precious jewels…”

In the 9th century, the Siva temple of Tiruvancaikkalam was the royal temple of the Cera kingdom of Mahodayapuram (present-day Thrissur district, Kerala) just as the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur exemplified Chola power, among others. Dr. R. Mahalakshmi, who teaches religion and society in early India and the Chola State at Jawaharlal Nehru University, points out that the Archaeological Survey of India's South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II is dedicated solely to the Thanjavur temple; such were the amounts gifted by royalty. Further, the Cera kings were deified as deva (Rajasekharadeva). Rajaraja Chola by giving his patron deity his name (Rajesvara) achieved the same aim, forcefully expressing the range of his imperial ambition.

Centuries later, in 1750, when Marthanda Varma dedicated his kingdom to the Padmanabha swamy temple deity — whose image he had had installed — he was doing something similar. He was seeking an unassailable position against rivals and an encroaching Dutch colonial power to unify a major part of Kerala under Travancore, now called Sri Pandaravaka or property of Sri Padmanabha. (This removed all distinctions between royal and temple owned lands, writes Mark de Lannoy in The Kulasekahara Perumals of Travancore). The Saivite prince had achieved a successful merger of identities with the Vaishnavite Padmanabha temple. The aura of being Sri Padmanabha's dasa was reinforced by gifts to the temple and acts of ‘mahadaans'.

Interestingly, there has been some discussion in the Malayalam press about a tradition of Marthanda Varma's successors borrowing money from the temple treasury during famine by making a proper document — a case of the state marking itself out as using resources and not claiming them. 

But that was then. In the 150 years that the Vishnu temple's secret vaults have remained locked, the wheels of history have turned full circle, witnessing epochal changes. Though the latest revelations have put the spotlight on a temple alive to the gossamer rustle of its mythology, there is a larger issue here — how to integrate that old India with a new India that bristles with the monetised energy of the here and now, but is often amnesiac about the historical value of places and junctures. 

Viable alternative

As eminent historians like Prof. K.N. Panikkar have urged, creating a public museum of the Padmanabhaswamy temple artefacts, capturing the historical memory embedded in them, would be a good start. It would throw light on a collective aspect of history and heritage so vital for any society's self esteem. 

Except that six decades of independence do not seem to have borne the desired results. While the Indian state's administration of Hindu temples has created corporate models of devotion such as at Tirupati, it has not managed to protect vast art antiquities exemplified in temple icons across the country. As far back as June 1999, a Himal magazine report quoted the superintendent of the antiquities wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation as saying it was possible that many idols in Tamil Nadu temples “may in fact be fake, with the originals having long been spirited away” to service the speculative international art market. 

The Padmanabhaswamy temple treasure foregrounds the paradox starkly. On the one hand are ‘servants' of the lord who are publicly shunning this wealth; on the other a democratic government whose inscrutable economic policies have marginalised millions even while creating enclaves of astronomical wealth, with no obvious interest in setting right this skewed balance. Will a pumping back into the nation's revenue pipeline of such windfalls like temple treasures or even illegally stashed Swiss bank deposits, usher in an egalitarian economy? The ‘lord of eternal repose' might as well sleep some more over that one.

Supreme court shouldnt hesistate in ordering to open the chamber B with TP Sunderrajan's death

TP Sunderrajan death is normal and it shouldnt hesistate the supreme court in ordering to open the chamber B of temple. Some pujas need to be conducted and the chamber B door should be opened. In modern india everybody should think positively and with belief. Bill gates is athiest and he has earned billions. So gods are not greedy and will not be serious if you open the chamber B and let it known for the people and serve it for useful purposes.

Petitioner TP Sunderarajan in Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple case dies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: TP Sunderarajan, who approached the apex court requesting a stock taking of the gold and jewels stored in the Sri padmanabhaswamy temple near here, passed away early Sunday. He was 70. 

He was suffering from fever for the past two days and was at his home near the temple when he died, a source close to him said. 

His funeral will take place later in the day, he added. 

A seven member committee formed by the apex court has completed the stock taking of five of the six vaults of the temple early this month. The treasure is unofficially estimated to be worth over Rs.one lakh crores. 

Sunderarajan, a 1964 batch Indian Police Service officer, had approached the apex court citing that the temple affairs were being mismanaged. He wanted an estimation of the assets that remained untouched for several years. 

He was part of the security ring of the former prime minister Indira Gandhi. He later quit his job and took up the legal profession.

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.

Temple Name: Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Kshetram.

Renovated In: 1733 AD.
Alias Name: AnantaPuri.
God Name: Sri Anantha PadmanabhaSwamy.
Goddess Name: Sri Hari Lakshmi Thayaar.
Dedicated To: Lord Vishnu.
Pushkarni: Matsya Theertham alias Padma Theertham.
Vimanam: Hemakoota Vimanam.
Renovated By: Raja Marthanda Varma.
Location: Trivandrum(Kerala).
State: Kerala.
Country:India.

Contact:Tele: 0091- 471 -2450233,2466830

Only Hindus are allowed inside the temple.Inside the temple dress regulations are strictly enforced.
The Temple Open:
(04.15-05.15hrs,06.45-07.30hrs,08.30-10.30hrs,11.30-11.45hrs,17.15-19.30hrs).
Dress Code:
Men – Dhoti.
Women – Saree and Blouse.
Temple Location:
It is found 3/4 miles away from the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station. (inside the East Fort).

Big Idol Of Pandavas Displayed During Painkuni Festival

About The Temple:

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple is located inside the East Fort,Thiruvananthapuram.It is the state temple of erstwhile Travancore.The temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu,who is depicted reclining on Sri Anantha,the hooded snake from which the city derives its name,“Thiruvananthapuram“.This ancient temple is the most dominating feature of Thiruvananthapuram,Overlooking the Padma Theertham Tank.The temple is a blend of the Kerala and Dravidian styles of architecture.It is known for its mural paintings and stone carvings.Exquisite stone carvings and pavilions are worth admiring one among the 108 sacred Vishnu temples in India,the presiding deity in here is Lord Vishnu reclining on Anantha the Holi Serpent.The idol inside the sanctum santorum is in the form of the Lord reclining on the Holy Serpent Anantha.It is an 18 feet long imposing figure built with Salagrama stones brought from Nepal and it is covered with gold and precious stones.This holy shrine attracts thousands of Hindu devotees.There are innumeraepillars,intricate carvings and Mural paintings.Outside the temple courtyard,there is a medley of shops that sell souvenirs,handicrafts,woodcarvings and handiwork of sandal.One can witness the craftsmen do their work right from carving the wood to polishing.In the October/November months of every year,there is held the Navarathri Festival of musical concerts at the Navarathri Mandapam,adjacent to the main building of the temple.

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple Stone Carving

This holy shrine attracts thousands of Hindu devotees.There are innumerable pillars, intricate carvings and Mural paintings. Outside the temple courtyard,there is a medley of shops that sell souvenirs,handicrafts,woodcarvings and handiwork of sandal.One can witness the craftsmen do their work right from carving the wood to polishing.In the October/November months of every year,there is held the Navarathri Festival of musical concerts at the Navarathri Mandapam,adjacent to the main building of the temple.The temple has an imposing seven tier gopuram covered with beautiful stone carvings.The temple has a broad corridor with 324 sculptured pillars and a 80 feet high golden flag staff.The walls of the temple are covered with interesting mural paintings depicting mythical stories.The Kulasekharamandapam,the main platform inside the temple is beautiful and regal.The entire architectural style followed in this temple is a mixture of Dravidian and Kerala styles.

Arattu At Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple 

This temple in its present form is built by Maharaja Marthanda Varma (1729-1758),one of the most powerful rulers of Travancore.The work on the temple was started in 1731.In 1750,the Maharaja dedicated his kingdom to Lord Padmanabha,the presiding deity of the kingdom and assumed the title Padmanabhadasa or the servant of Lord Padmanabha.From that day onwards the rulers of Travancore carry out all their princely and spiritual duties as the servants of the Lord.Padmanabha swamy temple is considered as one among the seven Parasurama shetras in Kerala and one among the 108 sacred temples in India dedicated to Lord Vishnu.The ancient texts of Padma purana and Skanda purana have mentions about this temple.The temple has very special rituals.Two festivals are celebrated every year,one in March-April and the second one in September-October.56 day long Murajapam or uninterrupted recitation of prayers is conducted once in six years and once in twelve years the festival of a million lamps or the Lakshadeepam is conducted.The temple is still given the status of the state templeand for the festivals divisions of the armed and mounted police will accompany the deity for the arattu or the holy bathing.Their band also play the songs written by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal.Swathi Thirunal had a very special relationship with Lord Padmanabha and the temple.His life was an offering to the Lord.All his songs carry the stamp of total dedication to Padmanabha.The most beautiful of his songs are on Lord Vishnu."Vande Sada Padmanabham"Always I worship thee Padmanabha,Thine is the hue of the water-laden clouds,Thy feet are the celestial Mandara blossoms to those who bow to them,Always I worship thee,my Lord” - Swathi Thirunal wrote.

Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple.

Mythology:
Padmanabha Swamy Temple stands at a place considered as one of the seven Parasurama Kshetras,texts including the Puranas,particularly the Skanda Purana and Padma Purana,have references for this shrine.Tradition states that in this place,the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu gave darshan to Indian sages like Divakarmuni and Vilvamangalam Swami.Another story tells of an pulaya couple seeing Vishnu in the form of a child.The child took morsels of rice from the hands of the couple.Also it is believed that Divakaramuni,when he saw the deity he took the first food item he saw which was an Unripe Mango and a coconut shell as an offering plate and performed primary pooja.In memory of this legend,naivedyam or offering prepared from rice is offered to the deity here in a coconut shell.

Legend:
There are many legends regarding the origin of the temple.One such legend says that the Sage Divakara prayed to Krishna for his darshan.Krishna came in disguise as a small,mischevious boy.The boy swallowed the Saligrama which was kept in Puja.The Sage became enraged at this and chased the boy until the boy hid himself behind a tree.The tree fell down and became Vishnu in Sayana Kolam.when he did so,he was of an extraordinarily large size.The Sage,recognizing that the tree was Vishnu,in despair prayed that he could not pray to Vishnu fully as his form was so large.Immediately,the Vishnu shrunk himself,and told the sage that he should be worshipped through three doors.These doors are now the doors in the temple through which the idol may be viewed.Through the first door,the worship is offered to Shiva,through the second entrance Brahma prays to Vishnu from his lotus navel,and through the third is Vishnu's feet,which are said to lead to salvation.Another legend suggests that the original Murti which was made of the wood of that tree got burned during a fire that engulfed the temple complex,was a sign of the unhappiness of the lord with the king.

Entrance Of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple

History Of Temple:
In olden days Sree Padmanabha Kshetram and its properties were controlled by powerful lords known as Ettuveetil Pillamar under the guidance of Ettara Yogam.Later,Marthanda Varma defeated the Pillamar and his cousins "Kunju thampis" and took over power.The last major renovation of the temple was done by King Marthanda Varma,Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.He dedicated his kingdom to the deity,and pledged that he and his descendants would serve the kingdom as Padmanabha Dasa,meaning "servants of the Lord Padmanabha".With this,Sri Padmanabha became the nominal head of the state of Travancore,assuming the title Perumal,the Emperor.The British Government saluted the Lord with a 21-gun salute,a military tradition of colonial days,which was continued by the Indian Army until the abolition of the privy purses by Government of India with Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister.The royal insignia of the Lord,The Valampuri Shankhu or dextral conch-shell,served as the State emblem of Travancore and even continued so for some time after the re-organisation of the States.Sri Padmanabha is still regarded as regional deity of Travancore[citation needed.The two annual festivals of the Temple culminate in a grand procession,in which the three deities (Sree Padmanabha,Narasimha Swamy and Krishna) carried on flower-decked and aesthetically decorated Garuda Vahanas to the Shankhumukhom beach,for 'aaraattu' (sacramental ablution).The 'aarattu' days are declared as local public holidays in Tiruvananthapuram.
Gopuram:
The temple has a 100 foot, seven-tier gopuram.The temple stands by the side of a tank,named Padma Theertham (meaning the lotus spring).The temple has a corridor with 365 and one-quarter sculptured granite-stone pillars with elaborate carvings.This corridor extends from the eastern side into the sanctum sanctorum.An eighty-foot flag-staff stands in front of the main entry from the 'prakaram' (corridor).The ground floor under the gopuram (main entrance in the eastern side) is known as the 'Nataka Sala' where the famous temple art,Kathakali was staged in the night during the ten-day uthsavam (festival) conducted twice a year,during the Malayalam months of Meenam and Thulam.