Padmanabhaswamy Temple

"There are a lot of spirits around. I can see them and know they're unhappy. It's definitely the gods' wrath." Bhuwanachandran, head of ultranationalist Shiv Sena party in Trivandrum, Kerala State.

Photo By Aijaz Rahi Tue, Jul 5, 2011

Now that truly is bizarre. In a country, one of the most populous and diverse in the world, where over 400 million of its people live on less than $1.25 daily, a supremely religious country that worships its deities, heaping wealth upon temples dedicated to those deities, an estimated $21-billion in diamonds, emeralds, jewellery, rare antique silver, brass platters and golden idols are held for posterity in that deity's name within the vaulted underground confines of a temple.

The treasure, a fabulous sum anywhere in the world, exists inside Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple dedicated to the (god) Lord Vishnu. The treasure was assembled over centuries by those who worshipped Vishnu at that temple. Kerala is a rich Indian state, grown wealthy by the sale of pepper, fine fabrics, ship ropes, rubber and rice. Its population is well off for India, and well educated, including women.

The treasure lay in the temple's vaults, unnoted, until fairly recently word was given through publicity related to a lawsuit, of its existence; an immense horde of riches. And now police officers, commandos and rapid-response personnel in uniform , armed with submachine guns guard the temple and its grounds day in and day out. The dynastic royalty that once ruled there is in dispute with one of the royal family's former advisers.

Taxes levied by the ruling family on tenant farmers, donations from worshippers, allowed the temple to amass that great fortune; once in his lifetime each succeeding monarch donated his weight in gold. "And most of our monarchs were fat", according to one local historian. The disgruntled former adviser insists that a descendant of the ruling monarch has mismanaged temple affairs and embezzled treasure.

Which led Kerala's government to seal the vaults and institute an inventory of the treasure. People now warn of divine retribution should the treasure be taken out of the temple, removed from the six vaults that hold them. A serpent depicted near the entry of the vaults to warn off intruders, added to the mysterious deaths of some associated with the affair, lends an air of mystery.

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple is just one of countless temples in India, all of which have collected treasures in the name of the deity they represent, although it has the dubious distinction of being the wealthiest. Visitors and the curious are now flocking to the temple, thanks to its new notoriety.

And India has suddenly burst into an aura of frenetic activity as excavations abound with hopefuls anticipating they may come across buried treasure.