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.