There is no doubt that the treasure unearthed from the vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram belongs to the State and the public, historian K.N. Panikkar said on Monday.
It was important to have some idea of the source of the treasure, Dr. Panikkar told The Hindu.
Such treasures were collected through plunder during invasions in several northern States.
“The States of Rajputana and of the Maratha region are good examples. [However], such a possibility did not exist in Travancore, as invasions and external plunder are not part of its history. Therefore, it is reasonable to surmise that these treasures are mostly internally generated. They could be part of the offerings of the people to Sree Padmanabha and the jewellery made by the Maharajah from the revenues collected from the people and offered to the deity. Some of them could also be presents received by the Maharajah from visitors.”
Pointing out that an inventory was maintained when important offerings were kept in stock, Dr. Panikkar said it was possible that such a list was available in the Mathilakam records and also in the papers of the Maharajah. “The Archives Department should try to locate the inventory, as it is likely to give information about the sources of the treasure — from where and when it was received and so on.”
The value of the treasure was still unknown, as expert assessment was not yet available, he said. “Many of them may have antique value and some others may have religious importance. The first step, therefore, should be to get a group of experts who can pronounce on its real worth. Once that is done, the future of the treasure could be discussed. There is an opinion that it should be handed over to the government for developmental purposes. I am aghast at this suggestion.”
“Set up safe museum”
Dr. Panikkar said such treasures were preserved for posterity all over the world. “This is a part of the legacy of Kerala and should be treated as such. If so, it should be preserved in a museum with modern security arrangements. An international advisory committee should be constituted to oversee the arrangements. The management of the museum may be vested with a trust of experts and government representatives. The treasure should be treated as a part of history.”
Keywords: Padmanabhaswamy temple treasure
The wealth clearly belongs to the Temple and the deity, and not to the public. Panniker must realise this, that the temple is a juristic entity, and wealth, treasures bestowed upon them are gifts, and not plunder as he tries to correlate with the plunder by others.
This treasure belongs in a museam or some place where it can be kept secure. The idea that this should be used to help the poor is ridiculous. In Kerala there are temples, churches & mosques that are sitting in prime properites, if we are conserned about the poor, lets sell those useless buildings to builders and use that crores to help poor.
The treasure belongs to the temple. The temple should build a museum to showcase these historic artifacts as well as the history of the kingdom of Travancore. The revenue that is generated from this museum should go to the temple. This will boost tourism to the state and benefit both the temple and the people of kerala.
I'm appalled and surprised people wanting to use this wealth for public good, infrastructure and education. The government has over $100 billion in foreign reserves. Why not use that instead? There is no dearth of wealth in this country. It is just unfortunate that we are plagued by its gross mismanagement. This is a 'priceless' treasure part of India's rich culture, tradition and history. Generations to come have the right to witness this instead of staring at a bridge built to nowhere using this wealth.Build a museum, preserve the wealth, let the world come and witness India's rich history. Let them pay to see it. That way we have a sustainable way of generating income instead of dissolving our prime assets. See how much London generates from viewing the 'crown jewels'. Would they think of auctioning it to fight austerity measures in the UK? NO!
This treasure belongs to Sree Padmanabha Swami. No matter people of India does not have food, shelter job, education or even self respect. Let Him be happy and please do not curse us for opening the sacred vaults
We are now faced with a material opulence which we have to cope with in today's situation. The core lessons are (1) Rulers and law-makers must have instinctive fear of God and dedicate their services to Him, deriving no benefit for themselves. Royals have shown the path (2)There is a lot of satisfaction in this kind of spiritual wealth, for the citizen as well (3) Management of treasures in a museum is to drive home this lesson for the benefit of the posterity.
Dr. Panikkar safely avoids the fact that it was the current trustees that kept the treasure safe. So why is there a need for a new set of overseers? As Rahul Gandhi wrote to Justice Krishna Iyer, it is easy to write letters criticising decisions, but difficult when you are in a position to implement. This case is similar....Dr. Panikkar says appoint an international panel of experts, etc. etc. On what grounds? The security of the system was due to its anonymity. Now that has been compromised. So security has to be beefed up...which the Kerala Govt. has done in the current budget. However, Panikker does not address that security threat from the people that will be overseeing the treasure. Movable properties such as these are easy to palm and have shown a tendency to walk. The Govt. has a very poor record of being able to safeguard treasures in the past 50 yrs. The present trustees have proven they are amply qualified.
I would presume the best option as construct a museum.. and get revenue out of it.. And that can go to the government... I'm pretty sure if we construct a good museum showing all of the collectibles..lots of money can be made... Mr Panikkar is naieve in mentioning that it belongs to the state.
It is really shocking to see people suggesting that this should be given to the Government for development work like education etc. This treasure has antique value and needs to be preserved. It is obvious that we do not sell items in museums for development work. Same is applicable for this treasure too.
Well it is an accumulation of centuries of donations made by devotees of only one religion to their own religious establishment. Being a secular country it is not proper for India to lay claim to any religious institution's treasures. Let the law and right to property prevail. The quantum of the property should not make us so greedy that we lose our sense of doing the right and moral thing.
I fully agree with Mr. Panikkar, the treasure belongs to the State and the people. The treasure must be utilized for the benefit of the State by way of starting a good waste management programme, improving the infrastructure, improving the health care faciliies, education for the poor etc. What is important is putting the treasure to good and productive use.
I think we cannot treat entire India as a homogenous land where all regions and its 'rulers' exhibited the same behavior. So while in North, invasion may accompany if not precede 'loot', in South 'loot' could have happened with no relation to the Government/ruler. Especially the 'eradication' of Jainism in south especially TN is still a point of intense study.
The treasure belongs to the temple and Travancore royal family. Appropriate steps should be taken to preserve these wealth in the temple itself, as the legacy of Kerala's culture and heritage. It opens the windows of the past to the present generation. It generates a lot of historical knowledge and widens the scope for further research and historical investigation. If it is taken for the betterment of the public like education, hospital services, PWD works etc, it will be swallowed by the politicians and other mafias. better be it with the temple, keep it in the museum under the control of state archaeological dept.
The treasure belongs to the deity, and it cannot be used for any other purposes. If it has to be given to the State government, then the same rule should be followed to other religious institutions also.
This temple, as well as the treasure, belongs to the people, not to the trustees. People have as much right as the trustees to take care of the temple and treasure, period. My suggestion is to bring in international property assessors, auctioneers like Sotheby's at least assess the real, present value of the new-found treasure. Let items of no consequence, like unused gems, gold coins, articles of value never used in the worship be auctioned off to the highest bidders. Let the rich and famous Indian billionaires like Ambanis, Birlas, Ruias, Tatas and anybody who wants to be famous for god reason, take whatever he or she likes. This way the value, thus, evaluated may become a stepping stone for development of Kerala state citizens. The industrialists would also like to make their services available by investing in industrialization of a backward and chiefly moribund state. There are many a Malayalis who have left Kerala for the better pastures, may return.
It is a good thing that the treasure at the Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple in Thiruananthapuram is found when India has become a world economic power to reckon with.India is a free democratic country, has all the intellegentia in the world.Due to repeated invasions from outsiders,the wealth of India was stolen and country was devestated.That is all history.Why cannot the best of brains consisting of educationists, supreme and high court judges, economists, industrialists like Mr.Narayana murthy of Infosys,Hasim Premji of Wipro,Ratan Tata of Tata industries,Ambani Brothers,Birlas,Hindujas,MIttals come together and advise the owners of the treasure,that is decendents of Raja Marthanda Varman as how best this treasure could be used for nation building.This might include major infrastructure of concrete paved multi lane highways,bridges durable bridges,opening higher schools of education like Indian Institute of science B'lore, MIT, Caltech in USA.China is making rapid strides in technology.
The idea that the treasure should be used for the betterment of people looks very childish. Are all our taxes utilized for the development of poor (or even maintaining infrastructure)? No. They go in to Government's coffer and end up in the hands of corrupt politicians and cunning contractors.Same will be the case with the treasure. It will be legally spent on new schemes (housing for poor etc.) while there would be no one to question or stop the malpractices. It will be better if it remained with the Temple authorities and keep it strictly audited.
Reply to the 1st comment : Yes, lets use it for the development work. After making use of this treasure trove, lets sell the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort or convert them into 5 star hotels and use the money for the development of the poor. After that, we will sell the Somnath Temple followed by the Gateway of India followed by the India Gate. These 'priceless' national heritages will generate a lot of wealth which we can use for the development of the poor. After all, we are such a poor country that the Government doesn't have enough money in its treasury to help the poor, right ? Your argument is fundamentally flawed.
Now the most difficult part of the story starts. How to protect this wealth from Politicians?
But the argument that it is people's money does not stand any ground with many of them. "The tax collected from people went into the tax treasury, and the presents, tributes to the Lord and possibly the wealth accumulated by winning battles, went into the temple treasury. 'Mathilakom' (related to the Padmanabhaswamy Temple) documents clearly state that tax treasury was called 'karuvalam' and temple treasury was 'ituveippu'. So, there is no confusion, the treasure now unearthed belongs to the Lord,'' says historian M G Sasibhushan."
Backing the opinion is another renowned historian M G S Narayanan who says that it was the 'ettarayogam' which had handled the money of the Lord initially. "Our history puts it down clearly that the money belongs to the temple. The treasury was different those times," he says. Therefore,the money should not be given out. "It is legally and morally wrong to take the money out of the temple. It should be preserved," he adds.
The treasure should be kept as it is. The real owner of this treasure is Lord Padmanabha. This has been accumulated over the centuries and current generation does not have any share in the treasure. Those who feel that the treasure to be used for public goods, should despense with their wealth to start with.
As the historian says the treasure should be preserved safely. It is historic and irreplaceable. it is part of Keralam's tradition and culture.
It must be handed over to state for development work like education for poor, create employment opportunity for unemployed people development for infrastructure and to fulfill other important need. India has a huge ammount property in a form of gold and silver, but hidden by nature or by our corrupt leaders. Nature unearth it time to time for betterment. From the begining India has been a soft target for invaders they looted mercylessly, but even after that India has so much that we can distribute it to the world with open arms.
Even in those days when kings and queens were ruling, once the offerings were made to a temple, they were no more the property of the giver. It is said that even the king is only a guardian of the wealth and he is a trustee in every sense. A true king would not utilise the treasure for his personal or public use. Rather, the kings added their mite to the offerings by the devotees. It is not a 'Royal' gesture to claim ownership on the offerings given to the Almighty - either by himself or by the devotees.
Evreyone has rights to think & express their own like panicker. It is not for the public and state. IT IS ONLY FOR HINDUS, THE PROPER HINDUS AND HINDU NATION.
This attracted my attention -Historian and former director of Indian Council of Historical Research M G S Narayanan: 'Travancore was a very prosperous state and with its port facilities, traded in spices, sandalwood and ivory. The foreign currency recovered from the vaults may have come in through the trade route,' he added. I think the amount of gold constitutes a good reserve backing for the Chitra Tirunal Trust to start a Bank in the name of the Lord. This way it will preserve the wealth in the Temple and put it to economic use.
In addition to international advisory committee we need an international monitoring committee to safeguard these treasures so that our legacies will know about our rich culture. Really ashamed to ask for an international monitoring committee but the fact is that we could no longer trust our own people.
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