Gold coins and jewellery from different points of history and various countries have been found in the vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Can the treasure form the core of a world class museum dedicated to India's maritime trading tradition?
Life may be different everywhere but the human heart is the same. It is drawn to riches, which explains the universal reaction of bafflement, mystery and awe at the recent discovery of the fabulous treasure in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. With one vault still to be opened, the treasure has been initially valued at over Rs. 100,000 crores, surpassing the wealth of Tirupati or, for that matter, any religious centre on earth. What is one to make of the treasure? How did it come about, who owns it, and what should be done with it?
Among the treasures found was a vast store of gold coins of the Roman Empire, from almost 2,000 years ago; Venetian gold ducats of the 14th and 15th centuries when Venice was a great maritime power; Portuguese currency from its days of glory in the 16th century; 17th century coins of the Dutch East India Company; Napoleon's gold coins from the early 19th century; and much more. How did the world's bullion end up in the vaults of a temple?
Tradition of trade
We forget that India was always a maritime trading nation. With a 5,000 mile coastline, it had adventurous seafaring merchants, who took great risks. A recurring theme in this history was a constant flow of gold and silver into India. The reason was that people in the West hankered after Indian goods — spices, cotton textiles, and jewellery — but Indians were uninterested in Western wares. To balance the books, Western merchants had to pay for the difference in gold and silver.
Roman senators complained that their women used too many Indian spices and luxuries, which drained the Roman Empire of precious metal. Pliny the Elder, in 77 CE, called India “the sink of the world's gold!” In the 16th century, Portugal protested that its hard-won silver from South America was being lost to India. The British Parliament echoed this lament in the 17th century and exhorted the East India Company to interest Indians in English goods. It was only in the early 19th century that the bullion flow changed direction when machine-made textiles from England's industrial revolution made Indian handlooms obsolete. Indians had finally found something they wanted from the West.
Gold thus came to our shores through trade routes, especially to the rich port cities of South India. The coins moved around once they got here, and Kanishka, who ruled Punjab and the northwest, for example, melted Roman coins and modelled his on them. But how did the gold end up in a temple? The South Indian temple was a vibrant centre of religious, economic and social life. Kings, merchants, and landlords supported it with generous donations of gold and precious stones, not only to gain punyam, ‘religious merit', but also legitimacy in the peoples' eyes. The medieval village assembly, the ‘sabha', met on the temple's premises, presided over by a deity with legal powers. One such king was the frugal Varma ruler of the old Travancore state who left his entire wealth to the Padmanabhaswamy temple.
Padmanabha is another name for the god Vishnu, whose exquisite reclining statue made from 32 kilos of pure gold was recovered among the temple treasures. Although the temple has existed for a thousand years, it became rich and famous after Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch army in the battle of Kulachal in 1771. Thereafter, he and his successors dedicated their kingdom to Padmanabha, donating lavishly to the temple. Even today, his modest, self-effacing descendent supervises the temple trust as dasa, ‘servant' of Padmanabha. But in January this year, the Kerala High Court rejected the contention that Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple was a family temple of the royal family and ordered the government to establish a state trust to manage it. The Supreme Court, however, stepped in, stayed the high court's judgment, and passed an interim order asking an SIT to document the treasure in the temple's vaults. This is how the treasure came to light in July.
So, who does this enormous wealth belong to? Leftists have stridently called for the treasure to be nationalised and deposited in the State treasury. The ordinary religiously minded Indian believes that it belongs to the god. The royal family, which has safeguarded it for centuries without stealing or squandering it, has refused any claim to it. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, has maintained that it does not belong to the state, saying that offerings were made to the deity and not to the state. What an extraordinary compliment to the people of Kerala; no one has tried to grab the treasure!
What to do with it? Clearly, it should not be reburied. The donors should not object to investing it wisely in sovereign instruments, using only the income from the capital. One possibility is to run schools, colleges and hospitals for the poor. Another is to set up a museum beside the magnificent temple. One could probably do both, given the size of the corpus. The ethical trustees who have guarded it safely should continue to be its upright stewards.
Tourist draw
A museum would provide devotees darshan of god's ornaments, and be a symbol of their bhakti. A world class museum dedicated to India's maritime trading tradition, designed by a great, renowned architect will draw tourists from around the world and do wonders for the city's economy. The town of Bilbao in northern Spain was unknown until the great Frank Gehry built a stunning museum there, and now the world flocks to pay homage to it. But it will only succeed if it is not managed by bureaucrats of the Archaeological Survey of India, under whose charge our present museum treasures collect dust rather than inspire wonder. A privately managed museum might also inspire philanthropic sentiments in the new breed of Indian billionaires.
Padmanabha's treasure finally raises a question that has engaged economists for decades. Given the one-way flow of gold and silver into India over the centuries, a staggering amount has accumulated and lies buried or in vaults across the country. Even today, India remains the world's destination for the precious metal. How can one transform it so that it not only remains a safe social security for the people but is also available to the national economy for productive investment? To a modest extent gold loans or gold bonds are a step in this direction. However, the opportunity is massive. It is a challenge to entrepreneurs and regulators to devise safe, liquid instruments, like annuities, which consumers could purchase with gold and silver, and be linked to the value of the metal as a guarantee against inflation and returnable on demand.
Padmanabha's treasure has given us an opportunity to look at ourselves in the mirror — at our religious faith, our economic history and what we want to be in the future. The answers to the many questions raised need to combine a respect for the ordinary Indian's faith, tap on to the entrepreneurial spirit of the knowledge economy of post-reform, and compassion for the worst off in society.
The author is general editor for Penguin of a forthcoming business and economy history of India in 15 volumes; he is also author of The Difficulty of Being Good.
Keywords: Padmanabhaswamy temple, temple treasure
It is very easy for everyone to say that the treasure belongs to
the state and should be used for national development.
There are many historic temples, mosques, churches,palaces, houses
etc in India which have treasures like this. So if any one is
demanding to use this treasure for national development, then the same
should be done for all temples, mosques, churches, erst while royal
families palaces, traditional family houses etc.which are more than a
century old.If that is not practical then why this hue and cry only
for "Padmanabha Swamy Temple".
This treasure was not excavated in an archaeological survey. It
belonged to a family and they safeguarded it with a proper inventory
list. Demanding this for national development is just similar to
asking present Tata's or Ambani's to give all their wealth for the
nation just because their business empire were created by their
forefathers.A demand like that even questions individual right to save
money in a democtratic country.
This should be kept as a corpus for renovating and upgrading the temple facilities and surroundings. Additionally, major portions of it should be only for emergency purposes in the state/ country. People's tax money is being squandered and gobbled by the money hungry government and private officials. Let us not use this as a substitute for the people's tax money that is pilferaged. Indian government is rich with deficit budget. Do we want this historically rich treasure evidence of our great past to be siphoned off? it is upto the individuals to use their wisdom while making their opinions for themselves or for speaking out. It is everyone's responsibility to try hard to protect and safeguard the pride/culture and well being of their land. Citizens make the country flourish.
I do not like this sentence...
"The ordinary religiously minded Indian believes that it belongs to the god." Who is ordinary, people who are religious?
Author has compiled the history very well but tried to push his idea of building a Museum, which of course should have been done cautiously without delineating people into two groups. People have a right to say what they think is right and who we are to judge them like a psychiatrist/sociologist, do in their job.
Treasure is Historic, i would say it has to be preserved. It will be great to learn history/teach history to the world from what we have found. Do you think we do not have hospitals, schools, museums....they are not maintained, not given enough attention or not used ....we are living in poverty but what kind of poverty is it? is it educational poverty?, moral poverty?, money poverty...and do you agree to using this holy treasure to be used for them. I bet every penny will be used up and forgotten tomorrow.
Sorry for errors
Please... please... please... use it to establish public funded but semi-autonomous 2-3 billion dollar endowed universities... if they have to spend the money, museums have no value for the country but education can sustain wealth in the long run... I hope sensibility prevails.
Not all the articles found inside the vaults would be of historical importance, but those which are should be displayed in a museum so that the comman man could get a glimse of the wealth accumulated by their forefathers and get an idea of the past. Already there exists a well maintained museum near the temple inside the 'Kuthira Malika Palace' complex, which is run by the royal family, that can be re-equipped to display a part of this treasure. The rest of the treasure that is not of much historical value can be utilized to make the temple once again a centre of knowledge and culture as it used to be in the bygone era. To achieve this, i think the present administrators would be appropriate because they have already proved their character and for further transparency there should be system of audit in place, that is accessible to all. In the end, i would like to add that 'Nara Seva is Narayana Seva'.
Its been more than 60 years of Independence, our nation has more than 50% of people who have poor access to basic amenities - food,shelter. In these years, various schemes have been launched by the Government to help the disadvantaged and to eradicate proverty, what we are still finding is that the poor is getting even poorer and more poverty in our nation. This gives us a good picture of poor governance and corrupt behaviour of various individuals - administrators, politicians,businessmen,etc. at every levels - local bodies,state,nation. If the governance was better, we won't be even thinking of utilizing Lord Padmanabha's wealth. Let the governance first improve and our people become good citizens of this wonderful nation. Due to the materialistic attitude, many still are wondering what's more there in the yet to be opened vault. The best place to safegaurd the treasure, would be those vaults itself.
The wealth can be utilized for the upliftment of the poor and the state.Service to Man is service to God.That's the soul of the Hindu culture.But how can anyone expect it to be done in its true sense when the government as well as the opposition are corrupt.Some have come up but there are many which are still unknown or untouched.Corruption is the headline in the newspapers for the past one month.After all it is Sri Padmanabhan's treasures more than anyone's.It's part of the history of our country.It's the safest place for those wealth and the government should make sure that adequate security is given.It is very much better for the wealth to be in the temple than in the swiss accounts of a few self centered people.Eradicate corruption before trying to eradicate the poverty of our land using Sri Padmanabhan's wealth.
I cannot agree to Mr Davis K Tanjan...would the same apply if a treasure is found in a church in kerala? Would you be willing to give it to the state? I think the treasure belongs to the Temple and like some one suggested may be use it to benefit common man by building hospitals and colleges.
@ Mr Davis - You say that the money belongs to the state! If it does belong to the state, then surely it belongs to the old Travancore State and not the whole of Kerala State.
This treasure trove is a religious, cultural and historical asset that ought not to be mortgaged and monetized because it has the accumulated value of history and culture. It is not mere lucre. Should the treasures of Ancient Egpyt be mortgaged to eradicate poverty in Africa? Should the European museums mortgage and monetize the rubies and diamonds to eliminate urban poverty in London and Paris? Aren't there better ways of uplifting oppressed peoples than through the erasure of local histories?
To say that Bilbao would have remained unknown if not for the Museo Guggenheim is an affront to the entire Basque/Euzkadi culture. Long before the Germanic and Roman peoples overran Europe, the Basques claim that their fishermen fared upto Newfoundland. This dignified community not only survived the influx of the 'barbarians' from the North and the East, but also Christian Europe as well as the regimes of Franco, the PP and the PSOE. In fact, many Basques contributed towards constructing the first trans-continental empire, overwhich the sun never set, that of Philip II. Even the catholic church, has such eminent Basques like St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. In our ignorance of the history and culture of the Basques in general and Bilbao in particular, we ought not to, even unintentionally, offend another community struggling against the tsunami of Spanish and European imperial history. They are struggling to keep their language, history and culture alive, and let them.
Schools,colleges,hospitals,museums,clean water,electricity and sewage system thru out India is an excellent idea to improve the conditions for people in India. Money came from people and should be used for them .Spend the money for good use.
The Royal family which has guarded and 'served' the lord should be trusted with the responsibility of the treasure. Its because of their moral strength that there is a treasure at all ! Gurucharan's idea of schools,colleges,hospitals and museum is an excellent one which(if properly implemented) not only will be for the benefit of the society but will also provide regular returns. state,center and left should keep a distance for their own good.
Good and informative article.
Gold in vaults have no productive value for the economy. De-materialization only makes speculative investment in gold easier. Not everything has to be about the worst-off in society.
How the wealth hidden in Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple came into existance is not a mystery. The Travancore Maharajas hid all the accumulated wealth for safe custody in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple to assure that the wealth is not plundered during war and is not stolen during peaceful times. It is kept very secretly in the inner sanctum of the temple so that no one till now knew about the existance of the hidden wealth. It is unlikely that any one will attack the temple and that is the safest place to keep all the loot the Maharajas of Travancore have accumulated during the centuries. The Padmanabhaswami Temple is a safe place to keep all the wealth rather than in the palaces or government treasury as long as the Maharajas are the administrators of the temple. After the independence, the wealth of the maharajas were proscribed and became the property of the government in lieu of government pensions to the Maharajas. Hence all the hidden wealth in the temple belongs to the state.
An excellent article on this topic. Thanks to The Hindu for publishing such an article from one of India's thinkers. Although there was much debate on this treasure in the last one month, this article has beautifully given the facts, figures and given some ideas too.
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