Kerala's Padmanabha temple floating in a sea of gold

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 2: It seems that Kerala's Padmanabha temple is floating in the sea of gold. A panel, who were appointed by the Supreme Court to count the huge amount of treasures in the place, came up with a stunning revelation.

The panel stated that 70 percent of the gold jewellery and diamonds, which have been recovered from the secret chamber A of the temple, estimatedly amount to Rs 50,000 crore.

It seems that the amount will soon leave the amount of gold and jewellery of Lord Balaji in Tirumala Tirupati temple of Andhra Pradesh. Jewellery in Thirupati temple estimatedly value at about Rs 52,000 crore.

The panel, after searching the chamber B, recovered gold coins weighing 530 kg among which around 17 kg of gold coins belong to the East India Company era, 14 kg of coins minted in Travancore, more than 100 raasi coins and sacks of coins from the era of Napoleon Bonaparte, sources informed.

Citing the revelation, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said, "We have been taking a serious view of the development. Security is already strong there. However, instructions have been issued to authorities concerned to further tighten it."

The Padmanabha temple is a major landmark in Kerala and was built by the King of Travancore dynasty, Marthanda Verma, in 18th century. Thiruvananthapuram [Thiru Anantha Puram] got its name from the deity of this temple which is Anantha Padmanabhan.

A devotee, claiming that the royal family had failed to provide enough safety to the precious and invaluable temple assets including rare jewels, moved the Kerala High Court. The High Court asked the state government to take the control of the temple from the temple trust controlled by the palace.

However, the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court's order and appointed a panel to make an inventory of articles in the temple in the presence of observers.

OneIndia News