Guruvayur temple to convert its silver stock into gold

Tonnes of silver articles including ornaments, utensils and other such things offered at the shrine by devotees have been kept in a room on the temple premises for years, sources said.

The huge collection of silver articles at the centuries-old Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple, near here, will soon turn into gold! Tonnes of silver articles including ornaments, utensils and other such things offered at the shrine by devotees have been kept in a room on the temple premises for years, sources said on Thursday.

The Guruvayur Devaswom has now entered into an agreement with the India Government Mint at Hyderabad to convert over five tonnes of silver articles in its stock into silver bars. At the mint, the silver articles would be purified before being converted into the form of bars. These silver bars would be transferred to the India Government Mint in Mumbai later and gold bars equal to its weight would be bought. The gold bars would be deposited at the SBI’s bullion branch in Mumbai, a top Devaswom official said, detailing the plan.

“As per the Devaswom’s decision, the temple administrator entered into an agreement with the mint in Hyderabad the other day,” the top Devaswom official said.

Usually, pure silver would be only 60% in the articles, he added.

A portion of gold articles in the temple’s repository was converted into gold bars recently and deposited in a similarly manner. The temple has received Rs6 crore as interest in this regard, he added.

The Devaswom has been thinking about practical and constructive ways to make use of the silver stock for some time and finally zeroed in on this plan, the official added.

The Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple recently revealed details of bank deposits to the tune of over Rs 1,700 crore and also declared that it has over 260 kg of gold in stock.

The centuries-old shrine, where Lord Vishnu is worshipped as Krishna, attracts thousands of people from across the country every year.