Just under four months ago, in March, I prayed at Padmanabhaswamy Koil, the royal temple of the Travencore kings. Few people would have recognized it then. No miracles were attributed to the place nor was it a pilgrimage site like so many other holy places in India. I went because I was visiting my aunt's family in Trivandrum.
This week's discovery of treasure in the vaults under the sanctum has propelled the Padmanabhaswamy temple to worldwide fame and allure. A team appointed by the Supreme Court of India is carrying out an inventory of astounding riches: solid gold idols, weighing several kilos each; bags of diamonds; coconuts fashioned from gold and studded with gems; coins ancient and new and so plentiful that the assessors are weighing sacks rather than counting them.
Reports in Indian newspapers claim that the Travencore treasure discovered so far has an estimated value of $22-billion. Overnight, this unassuming temple in a sleepy southern town has become the richest place of worship in the world.
India's Supreme Court ordered the inspection of the vaults after a lawyer petitioned a local court asking the state government to take over the temple, citing inadequate security. The current Maharaja of Travencore had appealed to the Supreme Court against the petition.
Before the trove was uncovered, there was almost no visible security at the temple, save for a few local security guards patrolling the complex with batons, mainly for crowd control.
Hindu nationalists have always claimed that such temple treasures were once common throughout India – before Afghan and Turkic raiders pillaged them in medieval times. The sack of Somnath, a coastal temple legendary for its wealth, is taught to every Indian school child. The loot at the Padmanabhaswamy temple will only bolster this claim of historic Hindu power and wealth.
But before Jerry Bruckheimer sends Jack Sparrow to the Malabar Coast for the next movie in the Pirates franchise, it's worth remembering that we are not dealing with romantic notions or strictly ancient treasure here. These are active religious institutions with phenomenal wealth in a country that sees itself as the next America, and whose growth in a nascent superpower reveals the struggle between secular progress and deep-rooted nationalistic and religious traditions.
Read More
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/indian-temple-treasure-tells-the-story-of-an-upwardly-mobile-and-pious-society/article2091262/
This week's discovery of treasure in the vaults under the sanctum has propelled the Padmanabhaswamy temple to worldwide fame and allure. A team appointed by the Supreme Court of India is carrying out an inventory of astounding riches: solid gold idols, weighing several kilos each; bags of diamonds; coconuts fashioned from gold and studded with gems; coins ancient and new and so plentiful that the assessors are weighing sacks rather than counting them.
Reports in Indian newspapers claim that the Travencore treasure discovered so far has an estimated value of $22-billion. Overnight, this unassuming temple in a sleepy southern town has become the richest place of worship in the world.
India's Supreme Court ordered the inspection of the vaults after a lawyer petitioned a local court asking the state government to take over the temple, citing inadequate security. The current Maharaja of Travencore had appealed to the Supreme Court against the petition.
Before the trove was uncovered, there was almost no visible security at the temple, save for a few local security guards patrolling the complex with batons, mainly for crowd control.
Hindu nationalists have always claimed that such temple treasures were once common throughout India – before Afghan and Turkic raiders pillaged them in medieval times. The sack of Somnath, a coastal temple legendary for its wealth, is taught to every Indian school child. The loot at the Padmanabhaswamy temple will only bolster this claim of historic Hindu power and wealth.
But before Jerry Bruckheimer sends Jack Sparrow to the Malabar Coast for the next movie in the Pirates franchise, it's worth remembering that we are not dealing with romantic notions or strictly ancient treasure here. These are active religious institutions with phenomenal wealth in a country that sees itself as the next America, and whose growth in a nascent superpower reveals the struggle between secular progress and deep-rooted nationalistic and religious traditions.
Read More
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/indian-temple-treasure-tells-the-story-of-an-upwardly-mobile-and-pious-society/article2091262/
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