According to the news reports, accumulated gems and jewelry worth over 500 billion rupees (11.2 billion dollars) were “inventoried” by the State of Kerala after it was granted legal right by the Supreme Court to do so due to established “mismanagement” by the very longtime managers, descendants of the Travancore royal family. Travancore royalty was connected to the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple for centuries, and, if I’m not mistaken, some of the people portrayed in the dance/movie above were part of that family. (Plus, Ragini’s husband was directly related to Travancore royalty – as was discussed here somewhat before… And this was the first dance that flashed into my mind tonight when I read about the treasures.)
Oh, and here are a couple of short videos showing glimpses of the actual temple:
I hope Sri Padmanabhaswamy treasure stays as it was preserved by good thiruvanchoor kings :-)
I guess…for the sake of beauty and historical preservation, etc…. Those kings were obviously pretty good at hoarding treasures. I admit I don’t know much else about them, but some of the stories I’ve seen are pretty grim. And then the New Kerala article says:
Historian and veteran journalist M. Gopalakrishnan said that according to the legend the gold got accumulated in the temple because in the olden days people used to offer gold to seek pardon from the royal family.
…Which just makes me want to shout, “Inquilab zindabad!” :)
Instead of going to the IMF the Indian Govt needs to look into the boudoirs of Godmen and temple treasures.
Yes, that sounds like a plan,Thandapani (?)…
This is an avatar I had made for myself on WordPress once. Thandapani means cool water. For some reason its popping up again now.
Actually this treasure news reminds me something that Lal Bahadur Shastri said while pushing the Green Revolution. Not the exact words – we will grow wheat at home in planters (gamla) if need be, but will not import it.
This money belongs to the people, we are the ones who donate sums to the temple, what we need is the ability to see that we are able to generate enough money to meet our needs. It is just the unequal distribution of wealth that is causing havoc.
But of course, as we know it, it is easier said than done.
Hi, Ava. Yes, that is strange that it just seems to be popping up out of nowhere :) … Actually, I read “thandapani” as cold water and was wondering why you would call yourself cold water. I thought maybe you were having a too-hot summer or something like that…
It does get pretty hot here, as you know. This year we were blessed with an early monsoon, hence cooler weather.
Oh, now I saw your second comment… Well said. I guess it is easier said than done. But would the people at the top of an unequal wealth distribution ever want to do that? And what is in place to prevent that from happening, how can that be changed, etc.? Maybe I shouldn’t get too much into my own thoughts about that here. :)
And back to cold water. Thank you, now I get it. :)
No
No
Yes
That is usually how my thought chain ends too :)