Hundreds of kilos of coins issued by the government of erstwhile Travancore (raasi) and those from the time of Napoleon and the British East India Company were among the articles that were counted and weighed on the second day of inventorying of the contents of vault A of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple.
The inventorying is being done by a seven-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court. An expert from the Department of Archaeology was present on Friday. The articles found inside the vaults are being counted and weighed. Their worth is not being assessed now.The Travancore-era coins include more than 14 kg of half-sovereigns believed to have been offered during ‘thulabharams' made over the centuries. More than 70 kg of Venetian coins were reportedly found on Friday, along with many kilos of East India company coins minted at (then) Madras. Coins of Australian origin and those from Mysore were also reportedly counted and weighed. The inventoried articles were tagged, bagged and deposited back inside the vault.
The inventorying of vaults A to F began on June 27; on the first day C was opened. D and F were opened on June 28. A and B — the contents of which are the subject of controversy — were opened on June 29. A preliminary inspection of A showed it to be mostly empty. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told The Hindu on Friday that the government would prepare a comprehensive security plan for the temple.
