Deva Prasannam Outcome - Padmanabha temple priests sound red alert for the country!

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10: The Padmanabhaswamy temple is under a cloud of concern and apprehension as the devaprashnam, an elaborate astrological ritual to ascertain the will of the deity has not brought good news. The ritual has revealed that any attempt to move the massive treasure out of the premises is likely to have catastrophic consequences, not just to the temple but to the nation as a whole.

The ritual has also divulged that laying hands on the treasure of huge antique value could affect the sanctity of the shrine and can lead to the deity's ire. The shocking revelations came out after the ritual that was headed by chief astrologer Madhur Ranga Bhat following the day's rituals.

Bhat also added that the devaprashnam also advised against the opening of the controversial B vault since it was directly positioned below the sanctum sanctorum that holds the massive Lord Vishnu idol of Sri Padmanabha in the reclining posture.

The astrologers have also been quoted as saying that lapses in the conduct of rituals and customs in the temple resulted in the negative outcome in the devaprashnam. The result impacting the nations itself. The impact of the shortcomings will be examined in the last day of the ritual on Wednesday.

The panel consisting of astrologers have also advised the temple officials to do pariharakriyas(resolutions) to overcome the shortcomings that had evolved during the conduct of the devaprashnam. The elaborate devaprashnam is presently underway at the natakasala within the temple.

The Supreme Court appointed committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide on how to go about on the scientific evaluation of the treasure trove found in the temple worth an estimated Rs 1 lakh crore. With the latest observations by the astrologers panel, the SC-appointed panel will have to decide on what the next course of action ought to be.

Kerala temple vault should not be opened: astrologers

A group of astrologers has said a sealed chamber of an ancient Hindu temple in India's Kerala state should not be opened as it would bring bad luck, news reports said Friday.

The exploration of five underground chambers of the 16th-century Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram had yielded diamonds, rubies, gold and silver jewellery and ancient artefacts estimated to be worth billions of dollars.

The chambers were opened beginning late June after the Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court verdict ordering the state government to take over the temple's assets from a trust controlled by the local royal family of Travancore.

The Supreme Court had appointed a panel to decide on whether the remaining sealed chamber should be opened. The panel was also to decide on the security, inventory and preservation of the treasures found in the vaults.

The temple, however, appointed a team of priests to conduct a four-day astrological ritual known as devaprasnam or questioning of the gods to figure out whether the sixth vault should be opened.

The chamber was last opened over 150 years ago, according to temple officials.

The team of astrologers had concluded that an idol of the deity of a temple that predated the 16th century Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple had been installed in the unopened chamber referred to as vault B, the Hindu newspaper reported.

"The opening of this vault will incur the displeasure of the devan (god). It would also bode ill for the people and the land," K Padmanabha Sharma, the priest leading the ritual, was quoted as saying.

"Of the treasure troves that are in the temple, vault B should not be opened and of the remaining five vaults, there should be no valuation done, besides there should be no exhibition of the treasure that has been found," Sharma said.

The astrologers said the opening of the five vaults had also angered the presiding deity and listed a series of penances that had to be done at the temple including reading of the vedas, which are ancient Hindu religious texts, and over 100,000 homas or fire rituals.

The astrologers concluded that if anyone did open vault B one of his family members may die either by snake bite or due to consumption of poison, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Stocktaking of the treasures in the vaults began after TP Sundar Rajan, a devotee of the temple deity and former police officer, approached the court saying security measures to protect the temple's wealth were inadequate.

Sundar Rajan, 70, died after a brief illness in Thiruvananthapuram on July 17.

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.