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.