[But here in
Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala formerly known as Trivandrum, many
people — including the state’s top elected official, Hindus and the royal
family that once ruled this part of India and still oversees the temple — argue
that the treasure should remain, largely untouched, at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy
temple where it has been housed for centuries]
By Vikas Bajaj
 |
Devotees took photos outside
the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in
|
Suggestions
are pouring in from across the country and the world. Some say it should be
used to establish universities and colleges. The man who brought the court case
that resulted in the unveiling wants it handed over to the Kerala state
government. Others want a subway system.
But here
in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala formerly known as Trivandrum, many
people — including the state’s top elected official, Hindus and the royal
family that once ruled this part of India and still oversees the temple — argue
that the treasure should remain, largely untouched, at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy
temple where it has been housed for centuries.
Their
attitude partly reflects a suspicion that public officials entrusted with large
sums of money will pocket much of it and mismanage the rest. Recent scandals,
including one involving telecom licenses that cost the government an estimated
$40 billion, have reinforced that cynicism.
(That
scandal has already sent one former minister to jail; on Thursday, another
former telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran, offered to quit the national cabinet
in light of allegations that he used his position to benefit companies owned by
his family.)
Unlike in
much of India, where royal families have used their kingdoms’ assets to build
luxuriant palaces, here the royal family has had a reputation for living
modestly and for its devotion to the Hindu god Vishnu, known here as
Padmanabhaswamy.
“They
should just measure its value,” said Krishna Kumar, a coconut oil producer who
came to pray at the temple this week. “And then they should leave it here. The
royal family will protect it.”
Oommen
Chandy, Kerala’s chief minister, echoed that sentiment. Even though his idyllic
coastal state has a debt of $16 billion and wants to build a subway system in
its largest metropolitan area of Kochi
“This
wealth belongs to the temple,” Mr. Chandy said. “Sri Padmanabhaswamy is a
symbol of the Kerala culture. The government will not agree with the view that
this belongs to the state.”
Political
analysts say his position will serve him in good stead with Hindus, who make up
a little more than half of Kerala’s population. Mr. Chandy is Christian and led
the Congress Party and its coalition partners to a narrow victory in state
elections recently.
India’s
Supreme Court will ultimately decide who should control the temple’s wealth,
which an archeological expert and the royal family say is probably worth less
than the $22 billion estimate but is still likely to be monumental.
On Friday,
the court put off the opening of the last of six vaults under the temple and
ordered the state government and royal family to come up with a plan to secure
the treasure. Previous attempts to open the vault have been unsuccessful
because the entrance is sealed with a thick steel door and granite pillars,
said Shashi Bhushan, the archeologist who is also an informal adviser to the
royal family. A previous king failed in an effort to enter that vault in 1931.
Local
legend has it that the vault is filled with snakes, but Mr. Bhushan, who wrote
a 120-page history of the temple for the Supreme Court, dismisses those tales
as hearsay. He said the court-appointed committee opening the vaults was searching
for blacksmiths who may be familiar with ancient metallurgical methods to
assist them.
Mr.
Bhushan said most of the temple’s assets were deposited by the royal family and
came from the pepper that the Travancore kingdom used to sell to Europeans and
others. In times of economic stress, the assets served as a “lender of last
resort” to the royals and the debts were later repaid, according to detailed
records written on palm leaves, said K. Jaya Kumar, a Kerala government
official who is a member of the committee.
The first
structures in the temple grounds were built in the 800s, though much of the
temple that exists today was built in the 1700s. The main sanctuary is a dimly
lighted room with a statue of Vishnu lying on Sheshnag, the multiheaded king of
snakes.
The
current leader of the royal family, Sri Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, has
stayed away from the public debate about what should be done with the treasure.
But in an interview at his modest home, he seemed to suggest that it should be
preserved for future generations.
Wearing a
white dhoti, or wrapped pantaloon, and a faded striped shirt, the 90-year-old
king looked less like the man sitting on a $22 billion windfall and more like a
retired scholar. He has not seen the treasure, he said, but he acknowledged
that he had long known that the vaults contained gold and other valuables.
Mr. Varma,
who said he goes to the temple every morning to pray, declined to speak about
the case because the court has ordered those involved not to. But asked if he
had a message to convey to the world, he suggested that people be more patient
and spend more time comprehending the world.
“You can
gobble up the thing,” he said, “or you can try to understand it.”
The man
who brought the case is a lawyer and former intelligence officer, T. P. Sundara
Rajan, who is a devotee of the temple. He contends that the royal family has
mismanaged temple assets and protected them poorly. He declined to be
interviewed, citing the court order.
One Kerala
politician, a former minister of education and culture, said the large size of
the temple’s assets proved that the royal family had done a good job preserving
them. But he suggested that leaving aside the items that may have religious or
archeological significance, the treasure could be used to help better society
by funding education — a traditional activity of religious institutions.
“Teaching
the new generation is the most important responsibility of society,” said the
former minister, M. A. Baby. “Along with the church, there should be the church
school.”
