Temples and Cultural Tourism

Under the cautious and ever-vigilant eyes of the Supreme Court of India, a treasure trove of precious stones, gold, silver jewellery and ancient coins has been discovered in five of the six secret vaults of the historic temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy, a Hindu Mahavishnu temple located in the historic East Fort area of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala and power centre of the erstwhile princely State of Travancore.

Even as official assessments of the hidden treasures have yet to be made, guesstimates put their value at close to a staggering one lakh crore of rupees (around $23 billion). Not surprisingly, such a stupendous cache of solid assets – potentially large enough to fund a sizeable part of the State budget – has begun attracting the attention of sundry suitors. They range from religious outfits to political groupings, and from academics and historians to ordinary devotees.

Surprisingly enough, in all this excited upheaval of rancorous debate and media frenzy, no one has bothered to explore in some depth the potential of putting the newfound assets to productive use for the common good of the people.

This is not to suggest a throwback to the good old days of socialist rhetoric, where the knee-jerk reaction would have been to nationalise cultural artefacts and expressions. The intriguing case of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, still unravelling under the eyes of the world media, throws open the possibility for the involvement of the public and the community in a partnership to preserve a region's cultural heritage and tradition, even as they actively solicit resources and revenues to maintain such a monumental inheritance.

Now that there is widespread concern and apprehension about how the golden assets unearthed from its secret chambers ought to be deployed, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple appears poised to tread a new path in cultural tourism. The historic temple, with its hoary tradition of sacraments and ceremonial rituals – all now abetted by the near-cinematic discovery of ancient treasure – can choose to tread the path of sensitive cultural tourism.

Cultural tourism

“Cultural tourism” is that sub sector of general tourism that focuses on the culture and cultural environments of a region, including landscapes, values and lifestyles of the community, heritage, visual and performing arts, industries, traditions and leisure pursuits of the local population.

The International Cultural Tourism Charter adopted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a non-governmental network of professionals dedicated to the conservation of the world's historic monuments and sites, says that “places and collections of heritage significance should be promoted and managed in ways which protect their authenticity and enhance the visitor experience by minimising fluctuations in arrivals and avoiding excessive numbers of visitors at any one time.”

A cautious approach

According to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Tourism is one of the largest industries and heritage tourism is its most rapidly growing international sector. However, many sites lack trained personnel and local communities and policy makers sometimes lack the experience necessary to use tourism as a tool to contribute to biodiversity and cultural diversity conservation.”

That is precisely the danger that a cultural heritage centre like the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple ought to avoid if it aspires to be on par with other famed destinations like Angkor Wat in Cambodia or our very own Taj Mahal.

By channeling the potential – both real and imagined – of the power of ancient treasures, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple could well be an exemplar of the virtues of marrying the new with the old. The immense hoard of ancient treasure, in the form of precious stones, gold and silver jewellery, supposedly worth crores of rupees, ought to be put to productive use in the modern, market-driven world.

(The writer can be contacted at >kgkumar@gmail.com )

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