March 22, 2015
Move over Fort Knox, there is a Temple in the Indian State of Kerala at Trivandrum or today's Thiruvananthapuram, where a lot more ancient Gold is stored, I mean real ancient than Fort Knox. That temple is Padmanabhaswamy Temple, dedicated to God Vishnu, the creator. The last partial count (2012) of gold horde stands at today's value of $20 billion. It's artistic and antique value is ten times more at about $200 billion. More vaults have been discovered in Temple's labyrinths which when opened and gold valued, the find should increase many fold.
That immense gold stored in the temple vaults and sealed a few hundred years back is of Indian and three foreign origin. Local Indian gold has Karnatic origin, where gold was mined for two thousand years. The Travancore monarchy seized huge haul of gold after wars with neighboring states over many hundreds of years. Other gold in the temple vaults has its origin elsewhere. Some of the gold coins discovered in the vault date back to Roman times, hence spice trade must be prevalent during that era using camel routes via Arabia and Persia. Other gold has Arabic origin which they had obtained from Timbaktu (now Mali) when fourteenth century Mali king Mansa Musa became a Muslim and who opened gold trade with the Arab world. Later explorer, Vasco De Gama, the Portuguese in 1500 AD circumvented Africa to reach Kerala to open direct sea trade with India for the spice trade.
Spices were traded for Gold with Romans/Greeks early in the first millennia. Greeks & Roman had Egyptian Pharos gold to trade. Later the Arabs used Mali gold to trade for spices. Last, Vasco De Gama brought the Spanish gold to trade. Soon Portuguese gave way to Dutch & British and the spice trade continued until the British decided to seize all of India from 1757-1857.
How much gold came into India is anybody's guess. But it seems to be immense. The forgoing is unimportant until you learn, what the local king did to all that gold and his State Treasury. He gave it away to the Padamanabhaswamy deity in 1750 AD. The whole of King's wealth became the deity's wealth. It was dumped at its feet. The priests overwhelmed, dumped all that gold in underground vaults. The King himself became Lord Vishnu's servant and a representative to govern the state. The spice trade continued and more gold arriving was straight away dumped at the deity's feet. Hence an immense amount of state gold is what is stored in the temple vaults. Danger appeared when British looted Bengal Treasury, Tipu Sultan's Treasury, Lucknow Treasury, Maratha Treasury from 1757 to 1799. Last date was Tipu Sultan's defeat and looting. It is when, I would imagine, that the vaults at Padamanabhaswamy Temple were sealed and forgotten, so that the British do not get the whiff of it, although the local royal family say that knew about the horde.
My Visit to Lord's inner sanctum & sanctorum:
I was very enthusiastic to visit this temple as soon as we hit the Kovalam beach which is only fifteen KM south of Thiruvananthapuram. Third day after arrival we were at the temple and boy the sight of this immense temple is mind boggling. It is in Tamil pagoda style, central trapezoid front gate reaching about two hundred feet high. The main temple is 500 meters inside, spread over seven acres, where Lord Vishnu is seated in his reclining position. Our party checked in via the VIP entrance using insider influence. Another hundred meters thru a number of stone gates and we reached the sanctum Sanctorum. This is a four feet high platform built of exquisitely cut ancient stones which accommodates the devotees who wait eagerly to get the "Darshan". I had not imagined that I am standing in front of at least 12 feet long Padamanabhaswami in a reclining position. He cannot be viewed in a single shot. There are three doors which are opened to view the deity. The first door to the left shows the head and the gold crown and the Sheshnag (the Serpent protector) with its hood over the Lord. The second door shows his "Nabhi" (the Navel) and Lord Brahma perched on a lotus flower. The third door shows the Lord's feet. All the stone columns supporting this heavy structure have been gold clad including the roof, doors and the section from where the puja is conducted. Hundreds of devotees are milling about to have darshan from all the doors. First time I was not successful, but second time I had my heart full of darshan.
Kings of State of Travancore and later Cochin were Vaishnav (Vishnu) worshippers and built this present brick and mortar temple in the sixteenth century, after a fire incident about a hundred years earlier. One last piece of stone, Gopuram ( capping stone) about 40 tons in weight and perched 75-100 feet high above the deity is an engineering marble in itself. The main sanctom sanctorum is surrounded by inner "Prakrima" and an outer "Prakrima". The outer Prakrima is stone cut colonnade about 500 meters square decorated with "Apsaras" in various dance positions carved on the stone columns. This stone work is of exquisite quality. The inner Prakrima is simpler and surrounds the inner sanctom sanctorum. Within the temple premises there are other deity's like Krishna, Ganesh and a few others who are also worshipped.
Existence of a major place of worship at this specific place predates to second century BC, even at that time, the temple was so wealthy and full of gold that it had been referred to as the "Golden Temple" in old temple records and other literature. I personally felt so proud to be here. Being a Hindu, I am fulfilling my destiny to visit as many great temples as possible. This pilgrimage to me is dream come true.
Who Knew About the Gold here?
The Travancore Royal Family had made it known that they always knew about the vaults. The priests, about fourteenth generation of the priests who dumped the gold in the vaults in 1750 AD also made it known that they knew about the vaults. The vaults with easy access were opened twice in last one hundred and fifty years, last time in 1931 AD. Each time there were not enough folklore about the hidden gold that the British government ignored It and made no effort to recover it as state property. These vaults are located not far from sanctom sanctorum that any curious visitor would ignore the locked doors. The temple management with the Travancore King as its head has generally suppressed any talk about the vaults. Moreover, no real estimate of the hidden wealth was available, hence in the twentieth century most Keralites ignored it as hearsay. The matter got a serious review when some serious minded people asked the management to open the vaults, which they resisted. Finally the Supreme Court stepped in and ordered these vaults be opened in 2012. Two of the opened vaults yielded a horde of wealth. Another door inside the vault has mysterious power or curse guarding it. After due consideration that there is no Sadhu, Saint or Astrologer of the current era who have the procedural knowledge and could perform a puja which will force the mysterious power to withdraw or remove the curse, hence the door stays unopened. It is believed that immense riches lie beyond this door. We have to wait until this guarded door is opened. Then only estimate of these riches could be made.
The milling crowd outside sanctom sanctorum is unmindful of the riches just beneath their feet. They have come for only one purpose i.e Darshan. This they do it in peace and leave.
Hari Sud
Move over Fort Knox, there is a Temple in the Indian State of Kerala at Trivandrum or today's Thiruvananthapuram, where a lot more ancient Gold is stored, I mean real ancient than Fort Knox. That temple is Padmanabhaswamy Temple, dedicated to God Vishnu, the creator. The last partial count (2012) of gold horde stands at today's value of $20 billion. It's artistic and antique value is ten times more at about $200 billion. More vaults have been discovered in Temple's labyrinths which when opened and gold valued, the find should increase many fold.
That immense gold stored in the temple vaults and sealed a few hundred years back is of Indian and three foreign origin. Local Indian gold has Karnatic origin, where gold was mined for two thousand years. The Travancore monarchy seized huge haul of gold after wars with neighboring states over many hundreds of years. Other gold in the temple vaults has its origin elsewhere. Some of the gold coins discovered in the vault date back to Roman times, hence spice trade must be prevalent during that era using camel routes via Arabia and Persia. Other gold has Arabic origin which they had obtained from Timbaktu (now Mali) when fourteenth century Mali king Mansa Musa became a Muslim and who opened gold trade with the Arab world. Later explorer, Vasco De Gama, the Portuguese in 1500 AD circumvented Africa to reach Kerala to open direct sea trade with India for the spice trade.
Spices were traded for Gold with Romans/Greeks early in the first millennia. Greeks & Roman had Egyptian Pharos gold to trade. Later the Arabs used Mali gold to trade for spices. Last, Vasco De Gama brought the Spanish gold to trade. Soon Portuguese gave way to Dutch & British and the spice trade continued until the British decided to seize all of India from 1757-1857.
How much gold came into India is anybody's guess. But it seems to be immense. The forgoing is unimportant until you learn, what the local king did to all that gold and his State Treasury. He gave it away to the Padamanabhaswamy deity in 1750 AD. The whole of King's wealth became the deity's wealth. It was dumped at its feet. The priests overwhelmed, dumped all that gold in underground vaults. The King himself became Lord Vishnu's servant and a representative to govern the state. The spice trade continued and more gold arriving was straight away dumped at the deity's feet. Hence an immense amount of state gold is what is stored in the temple vaults. Danger appeared when British looted Bengal Treasury, Tipu Sultan's Treasury, Lucknow Treasury, Maratha Treasury from 1757 to 1799. Last date was Tipu Sultan's defeat and looting. It is when, I would imagine, that the vaults at Padamanabhaswamy Temple were sealed and forgotten, so that the British do not get the whiff of it, although the local royal family say that knew about the horde.
My Visit to Lord's inner sanctum & sanctorum:
I was very enthusiastic to visit this temple as soon as we hit the Kovalam beach which is only fifteen KM south of Thiruvananthapuram. Third day after arrival we were at the temple and boy the sight of this immense temple is mind boggling. It is in Tamil pagoda style, central trapezoid front gate reaching about two hundred feet high. The main temple is 500 meters inside, spread over seven acres, where Lord Vishnu is seated in his reclining position. Our party checked in via the VIP entrance using insider influence. Another hundred meters thru a number of stone gates and we reached the sanctum Sanctorum. This is a four feet high platform built of exquisitely cut ancient stones which accommodates the devotees who wait eagerly to get the "Darshan". I had not imagined that I am standing in front of at least 12 feet long Padamanabhaswami in a reclining position. He cannot be viewed in a single shot. There are three doors which are opened to view the deity. The first door to the left shows the head and the gold crown and the Sheshnag (the Serpent protector) with its hood over the Lord. The second door shows his "Nabhi" (the Navel) and Lord Brahma perched on a lotus flower. The third door shows the Lord's feet. All the stone columns supporting this heavy structure have been gold clad including the roof, doors and the section from where the puja is conducted. Hundreds of devotees are milling about to have darshan from all the doors. First time I was not successful, but second time I had my heart full of darshan.
Kings of State of Travancore and later Cochin were Vaishnav (Vishnu) worshippers and built this present brick and mortar temple in the sixteenth century, after a fire incident about a hundred years earlier. One last piece of stone, Gopuram ( capping stone) about 40 tons in weight and perched 75-100 feet high above the deity is an engineering marble in itself. The main sanctom sanctorum is surrounded by inner "Prakrima" and an outer "Prakrima". The outer Prakrima is stone cut colonnade about 500 meters square decorated with "Apsaras" in various dance positions carved on the stone columns. This stone work is of exquisite quality. The inner Prakrima is simpler and surrounds the inner sanctom sanctorum. Within the temple premises there are other deity's like Krishna, Ganesh and a few others who are also worshipped.
Existence of a major place of worship at this specific place predates to second century BC, even at that time, the temple was so wealthy and full of gold that it had been referred to as the "Golden Temple" in old temple records and other literature. I personally felt so proud to be here. Being a Hindu, I am fulfilling my destiny to visit as many great temples as possible. This pilgrimage to me is dream come true.
Who Knew About the Gold here?
The Travancore Royal Family had made it known that they always knew about the vaults. The priests, about fourteenth generation of the priests who dumped the gold in the vaults in 1750 AD also made it known that they knew about the vaults. The vaults with easy access were opened twice in last one hundred and fifty years, last time in 1931 AD. Each time there were not enough folklore about the hidden gold that the British government ignored It and made no effort to recover it as state property. These vaults are located not far from sanctom sanctorum that any curious visitor would ignore the locked doors. The temple management with the Travancore King as its head has generally suppressed any talk about the vaults. Moreover, no real estimate of the hidden wealth was available, hence in the twentieth century most Keralites ignored it as hearsay. The matter got a serious review when some serious minded people asked the management to open the vaults, which they resisted. Finally the Supreme Court stepped in and ordered these vaults be opened in 2012. Two of the opened vaults yielded a horde of wealth. Another door inside the vault has mysterious power or curse guarding it. After due consideration that there is no Sadhu, Saint or Astrologer of the current era who have the procedural knowledge and could perform a puja which will force the mysterious power to withdraw or remove the curse, hence the door stays unopened. It is believed that immense riches lie beyond this door. We have to wait until this guarded door is opened. Then only estimate of these riches could be made.
The milling crowd outside sanctom sanctorum is unmindful of the riches just beneath their feet. They have come for only one purpose i.e Darshan. This they do it in peace and leave.
Hari Sud
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