Even after a judicial commission listed the lost valuables of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram in 2008, the temple administration headed by the Maharajah of Travancore, Sree Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, never took action against the culprits.
The temple has been in the news lately after its vaults, opened on the orders of the Supreme Court, revealed treasures worth over Rs 1,00,000 crore. Only one last vault, vault A, remains to be opened as the Travancore Maharajah, Uthradam Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the temple’s traditional custodian, objected to it saying the deity was not happy about it. He held a ritual called Devaprasnam to claim the vault should not be opened.
Firstpost revealed in an earlier story that the vaults had been opened before, despite claims to the contrary by the Maharaja. Fresh documents with Firstpost reveal that a Judicial commission appointed by the Principal Sub-Judge of Thiruvananthapuram also indicated that several valuables from the vaults had been lost or stolen.
The Commission submitted its findings to the court listing the missing valuables from the temple on 14 November 2008. Headed by Advocate Commissioner BR Shyam and V Suresh, the Commission visited the temple and opened the vaults where the golden and silver pooja utensils were kept.
The report lists the missing utensils at the temple. “Incidentally, it came to our notice that in the item No 4 – Thankakuda, a golden umbrella with hanging tassels made of gold and green stones, 14 green coloured stones were found broken. The hangings were attached to the umbrella by golden threads. Some of the golden threads were found missing …”
A paramilitary serviceman is seen at The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. AFP
“In item No 5, Vellipidi Swarnakuda (golden umbrella with silver handle), and with hanging tassels of green stones covered with gold attached to the umbrella by golden hooks, 44 golden hooks were missing and were replaced by copper or iron hooks. Three golden threads in the golden umbrella were also found missing. In Item No 15, two out of the four silver bells were found missing,” the judicial commission report revealed.
But when the Commission inquired about the missing valuables at the temple, the Executive Officer told them that he had only recently taken charge of the temple administration and was not aware about the missing valuables.
The Judicial Commission opened the temple vault in the presence of Executive Officer, the Treasurer, the palace representative Ravi Varma Raja, Advocate Balagovindan, Advocate Anandapadmanabhan, Advocate Punchakkari Raveendran Nair, Advocate Vishwanathan Pillai, Appraiser Muthukrishnan and a few temple staff.
“Advocate Anandapadmanabhan and Advocate Balagovindan have requested us to take the sample weight of one item in each category. This request was strongly opposed by Punchakkari Raveendran Nair and palace representative Ravi Varma Raja stating that there is no specific order from the court for that purpose. The Executive Officer present was willing for weighing the valuables and conducting the purity test on the pooja utensils by the Judicial Commission. Since the parties objected (to) the weighing of valuables, we have decided to do so next time after getting specific orders from the court,” the commission report stated.
The Commission tried to weigh 11 precious valuables kept in a wooden box to ensure the security of the valuables, but the resistance of the royal family suggested that they may have been aware of the temple loot going on for years.
The Commission also found that one silver bell was missing from the list of pooja utensils handed over to the temple authorities on 19 October 2008.
The Judicial Commission also noted that “the golden and silver articles worth millions of rupees handed over to the temple authorities were not properly handled by the persons who are using them for the poojas”.
