The temporary management committee of the treasure-rich Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday ordered stoppage of an excavation by the State Archaeology Department to study the underground granite pavements, paths and artifacts at the Vadakke Nada (north entrance) of the shrine.
Thiruvananthapuram District Collector Biju Prabhakar, the Government’s nominee on the five-member temple management panel constituted as per instructions of the Supreme Court, said that excavations should be suspended because of security reasons. The excavations started last week after historical remnants were spotted while digging channels for installing security implements.“We can conduct the excavations later if it is needed.” Prabhakar said. “It is not proper to do it at this time when things are under the consideration of the Supreme Court. We cannot say which places will have to be dug for excavation,” he said, adding that security was more important than excavation for the time being.
The mini-excavation had started after centuries-old granite pavements and remnants of pottery were found while digging the ground at the Vadakke Nada for installing security implements like springing bollards and remote-controlled barricades as per a plan to bring the temple holding huge treasures under enhanced security cover.Gold, precious stones, historical coins and other articles — which are worth over `120,000 crore — were found stored in the six secret vaults (Kallaras) inside the temple on July-August, 2011, making the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple perhaps the richest Hindu shrine in the entire world. Enhancement of security cover was later taken up in this context.
In a bid to ascertain the antiquity of the famed temple, the archeologists were planning to conduct explorations in a four-sq-km radius around the temple. An archeologist with the department said that this was necessary “as an occasion has now come” since no authentic studies had ever been conducted to ascertain the age and origins of the shrine.
Acting on the basis of a report of Gopal Subramaniam, amicus curiae appointed to examine the affairs of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the Supreme Court had recently ordered disbanding of the traditional temple management committee controlled by a representative of the former royalty of Travancore, the erstwhile custodians of the shrine and everything in it.
In the interim order, the apex court also advised the constitution of a five-member temporary management committee headed by the district judge. The amicus curiae, in his on-site examinations at the shrine, had found discrepancies in temple management. He also reported that pilferage in invaluable articles stored in the temple vaults could have been taking place.