The team of astrologers, which conducted a four-day ‘Devaprasnam' at Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here, has concluded that the unopened underground vault at the temple was inextricably linked to the ‘chaithanyam' of the presiding deity and that consequently that vault should never be opened.
The ‘Devaprasnam'— an astrological process that is believed to reveal the will of a god — revealed that the riches found in the temple's underground vaults belonged to the presiding deity. They should not be moved, put on public display, evaluated or photographed.
Astrologers Narayana Ranga Bhatt and Padmanabha Sharma told journalists that the ‘prasnam' revealed that the idol of the deity of a temple, which pre-dated the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, had been installed inside vault B. This idol has not lost its ‘chaithanyam.'
“The opening of this vault will incur the displeasure of the ‘devan'. It would also bode ill for the people and for the land,” Mr. Sharma explained. This vault was found to have an underground link with the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple. This vault cannot be considered just as a repository of riches. “If anything, it is a safe house of the ‘sannidhyam' of the ‘devan',” he added.
The recent opening of the other five vaults of the Temple — consequent to a directive of the Supreme Court — has also resulted in the displeasure of the ‘devan,' the astrologers said. The ‘prasnam' revealed that people associated with the Temple — from those who do the rituals to the employees — were guilty of wrongful behaviour.
The astrologers listed a series of penances to be done at the Temple. This includes readings of three Vedas, one lakh ‘Thila Homams', 24,000 ‘Maha Sudarsana Homams', 24,000 ‘Laghu Sudarsana Homams' and ‘ Sukritha Homam.'
The findings of the ‘Devaprasnam' come at a time when a five-member committee appointed by the Supreme Court to decide on the security, inventory and preservation of the articles inside the underground vaults has begun its work.
