A high-level meeting of officials has been called to discuss the security status of the Lord Padmanabhaswamy Temple here, whose unravelling riches in antique treasure holdings have made it a vulnerable target for mischief makers.
The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, is chairing the meeting, which is being attended by the Minister for Deaswom, Mr V. S. Sivakumar, and top police officials.
SECURITY CORDON
A strong police cordon has already been thrown around the grand temple complex of 18{+t}{+h} century vintage frequented as much by devotees as by tourists fascinated by the heritage architecture.
Six days of continuous and laborious efforts at itemising and sorting one of the largest treasure finds ever tucked away for centuries into pitch-dark cellars and anti-chambers, have brought to light enormous riches beyond the scope for normal valuation methodologies.
Conservative estimates have put the value of the find to be near the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark already, which is more than double Kerala's Gross Domestic Product. At least one more cellar not opened for more than a century remains to be accounted for still.
The exercise is being done on the orders of the Supreme Court whose specially commissioned seven-member team is overseeing the entire operation.
Its job is to make an inventory and submit the same to the court. Members have refrained from guesstimating the value of the find saying they are neither equipped nor have been asked to do so.
Meanwhile, members of the erstwhile Travancore royal family, traditional custodians of the temple and its emerging vast riches, are not amused by the wide and often wild publicity the venerable place of worship is attracting for reasons “out of context and smacking of irreverence.”
Sources in the Palace Administration expressed frustration at the princely sums being bandied about in estimating the value of the find.
“This is reprehensible since putting a market price for the temple's belongings is neither called for nor is in fairness of the great heritage and tradition associated with them. We must know that they entirely belong to Lord Sree Padmanabha and is hence inestimable.”