The Maya of the Temple Treasure

Like the story of Ali Baba aur Chalees Chor, you say the magic words and Lo! what do you find in the secret vaults, a wealth so unimaginable that it brings the country to a screeching halt. This is breaking news. For hundreds of years, the treasure has been stashed away safely against raiders and is soon forgotten, tons and tons of Gold coins, Gold ropes, Gold vessels, Gold crowns, Gold statues of MahaVishnu and Krishna, sackful of Diamonds, Ruby pendants, Sapphire necklaces, Pearl rings, Silver and more finally emerge last month, dazzling the seven member appraisal team appointed by the Supreme Court of India in response to the Kerala High Court decision that the State should take over the Temple……a story much more intriguing than a Bollywood movie surely.

http://www.sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.com/about-sree-padmanabhaswamy-temple-thiruvananthapuram.html
Official website of the Temple.

http://blog.offstumped.in/2011/07/06/kerala-temple-wealth-debate-a-backgrounder/
Background archival material of the Travancore Temple.

For years people in that area have spoken about it, juicy rumours have multiplied with equal regularity each passing year. The Varmans didn’t talk about it much but the coterie knew. One such disgruntled employee, since deceased, files a case. The beans and skeletons come tumbling out. Only what comes out is precious gem stones and jewelry to the valuation of Rs 100,0000 crores! With one more vault to go newsreaders are fast learning how to pronounce Thiruvananthapuram. The petitioner, a former IPS officer, later with the CBI, dies at 70. Is it the famous curse in action people wonder.

http://vakkomsen.blogspot.com/2011/07/petitioner-in-padmanabhaswamy-temple.html
Petitioner Dies at 70

One of the 108 Divya Desams, the holiest places of Vishnu worship, a must on every Vaishnava pilgrim’s itinerary, this is the also one of the seven Parasurama Kshetras mentioned in the Skanda and Padma Puranas. An ancient powerful land. Umpteen praises have been composed and sung by Nammalvar a few thousand years ago as is the belief and more recently by Swathi Thirunal Marthand Varma, the Travancore Raja, in the 19th cent. These devotional Krithis full of fervor and bhakti are now being sung by another scion of the illustrious Varma family, Prince Rama Varma, such unwavering loyalty to God as the overseer of the State of Travancore is unparalleled in Indian Monarchichal history. After gifting away all the wealth and his kingdom to Lord Sri Padmanabhaswamy, who thus became the overseer, the King cleverly remained but a humble minion of this vast temple, treasury and Travancore itself, thus preventing any further attacks on his kingdom from the neighbouring Kings and also preventing infighting. Henceforth he and his descendants would be all called ‘Padmanabha Dasas’, devotees/slaves of Sri Padmanabha, what a lofty crafty concept!

"I prostrate to the the immortal one who reclines on the king-serpent, bestower of prosperity to the PURU dynasty. Oh PADMANABHA ! your feet are worshipped by BRAHMA, SIVA, INDRA and other celestials. One who resides in the gem studded mansion in the snow_ white island amid the milky ocean. One who is forever worshipped by NARADA, GARUDA and the devoted ascetics. One who is adorned with divine weapons - SUDARSANA, and NANDAKA. The embodiment of prosperity, having lotus like feet, which are worshipped by celestials. Oh PADMANABHA! You took the adorable child-like form due to the extreme devotion of the sage DIVAKARA; your pranks_ were restrained by the YOGI while snatching away the SALAGRAMA of daily worship. Out of compassion for the sage, you became steadfast near the tree in ANANTHAPURA! Being extolled by the sage you took a beautiful form. You are surrounded by the holy PADMATHIRTHA redeeming all woes and miseries. You are resplendent on the golden VIMANA made by VANCHI King!!”


Bhogeendra Sayeenam

Since the unexpected discovery, Twitter, Blogs and FaceBook walls have been awash with public opinion on HOW to manage this unending treasure. It is so easy to advice others on how they should conduct their businesses isn’t it? Especially when it comes to matters of charity. While we safely stash away our gold, real estate, stocks and bonds for our biological heirs we want to make sure that our guilt ridden social consciousness is catered to, that our moral high ground is not snatched away by someone else, what better than usurp this unclaimed for treasure and donate it to the cause of humankind, let the milk of generosity flow from other udders! (Unclaimed because the Treasure technically belongs to the Deity) Let the political class indulge themselves with their Swiss accounts, this treasure is a free for all.

There have been still others who want to tax the poor God! He owes it, they claim. Look at our Poverty levels. Look at the state of Education. Look at the condition of our Rural Health. And so on. There is no dearth for causes nor is there a dearth for takers. After all this wealth must have come from the sweat, tears and toil of the downtrodden, these terrible monarchs taxed them mercilessly, give it back!

Whatever be the decision of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the State of Kerala it brings us to the hitherto undebated question of the State’s role in private property. The State’s role in controlling and taking over faith based institutions and trusts from the majority while at the same time using the State’s resources and/or these monies for the benefit of certain other minority constituencies. It is this step-motherly treatment that enrages most moderate Hindus, while further alienating the already virulent and violent fanatics.

A priest at his family’s ancestral temple gets paid less salary than a government peon at the same temple. He has to get by at Rs 3000 in this day and age versus Rs 12,000 that a sweeper earns. If diversity of cultural practices and the preservation of anthropological customs are essential then the Vedic and Brahminical way of life is just as important as the Niyamgiri’s Kondhs. Immature backlashes at the cost of a community which must suffer for the supposed wrongs of its ancestors is a foolish way to bring about justice and equality. Many temples in Andhra Pradesh have been taken over by the State in the guise of managing their affairs. This kind of unwarranted interference by Ex Chief Minister of AP, YS Rajashekhar Reddy, especially in the holy Tirumala Hills, is said to have lead to his untimely death or so say many believers. The Endowments Department, the bane of many a priests and temples in Andhra Pradesh, does not include any concerned priest on its Board and thus they have no say in the day-to-day running of their own premises!

http://blog.offstumped.in/2010/08/18/laissez-faire-for-our-temples/
Promoting laissez-faire for Hindu temples

For people professing a different faith or for those not of a faithful disposition it is tough to understand this fascination with a non-being, a non-entity, a non-human. America might place its trust in God but for we in India, in the land of the Gods, the government being devoutly secular, no such beliefs are espoused or encouraged. To profess a faith especially that which believes in idol-worship, caste, karma, punar-janma et al is to invite limitless ridicule and labels of ‘revivalist’, ‘retrograde’ and ‘reactionary’. How then must one go about explaining the faith of one’s ancestors to the naysayers? To the agnostic, the atheist, the monotheist? How then to explain that one could be a Monist and yet be a Polytheist! That one of the eight known Indian philosophical systems: Advaita Vedanta, goes beyond a single Godhood and infact says that You are God Itself! Each one of us! In which case this treasure belongs to all of us and therefore bound to be donated to none. That our sense of Karma and Dharma allows us that leeway, that we are not tethered to paying a fixed amount of tithe or zakaat to prove our credentials and earn our place in Heaven or Jannat.

Since most of us have received our education in the Macaulay system and later earned our laurels at various Government institutes, which are usually models of the Nehruvian-Socialist thought, it is no wonder that most of us Hindus have disassociated ourselves from any whiff of ‘backward meaningless rituals’. We are loathe to visit temples, do pooja or offer obeisance. We laugh at all the blind faith exhibited by the teeming hungry masses and when driven to uncontrollable anger and helplessness at the sad state of affairs, quick to pass the buck of responsibility onto the Brahmin stranglehold that has been responsible for every sin and wrongdoing in India, so said the Mughals-Muslims and so said the British-Christians,therefore it must be true! To question the motives of a minority sentiment,maybe they have ulterior motives, a divide and rule policy etc, will be to go against the tenets of Modern Secular India, hence we buy this logic, this reasoning, this blame-game, lock stock and barrel without actually objectively looking at History, devoid of any religious or caste affiliations.This pseudo-secular attitude on the part of many a Liberal Left-Winger has lead many a normal god-fearing faithful Hindu straight into the arms of the enemies of Hinduism, the extreme Right.

Isn’t it only right that we right the wrongs of our previous generations, isn’t it right that we spend this money for social causes, isn’t it right that we spend at least a fraction if not all of this money for the welfare of the poor, what a waste of money lying in secret vaults, put it in a bank, let it accrue interest, give it to the State let them use it judiciously, so on and so forth. All these opinions are not anyone else's but the lapsed Hindus themselves thinking out aloud. Nowhere does the thought arise that this could be Private Property, nowhere the thought that Faith could be bigger than fact, nowhere the idea that God is the legitimate owner here, nowhere the understanding that Charity as a concept is different for the Hindus, nowhere the opinion that since this treasure was buried and unknown until yesterday, why should we suddenly cry for its re-distribution today, nowhere an assenting nod to the suggestion that this money from the devotees ought to be spent for the betterment of Hindu Temples, their choultries, their various institutions, their scriptural preservation, nowhere a semblance of understanding of a different ideology.

Yes, these statements defeat logic. God owns the Treasure. He is the Overseer and Keeper.It is HIS wealth.HE alone can decide what to do with his wealth.And so on.

How can GOD be a person? That too one owning private property? Well, in this case he does. This is what the current Raja of Travancore says,with humility. Accept it for a minute. What would you say now? Tax the Deity? the Temple? the Trust? How about taxing other religious institutions too while we are at it. Which are so far exempt from either state interference or taxation? Are the others willing to allow their foreign funds being scanned, being scrutinized? If the answer is no, which it will be, then pray leave the Hindu Temple alone. In a secular country all religions ought to be ON PAR with one another. The Government cannot and should not have different set of rules for the minorities and different ones for the majority. It will only cause much more resentment and bloodshed in the future.

Indian caste system which has been blamed for creating the poorer sections in the society ad infinitum, existed in its traditional purer form when the Afghan invasions happened, was not India the richest country in the world then? Was not many a Greek, Turk, Arab, Hun attracted to her shores for her wealth and splendour? Did not every invader including the ruling Mughal and the colonial British benefit from her wealth at the cost of her public, her citizinery? What is Taj Mahal if not the blood and toil of the slaves? What was Manchester but the sweat and tears of the Indian cotton farmer.

How come India remained wealthy for centuries together despite its terrible social practices that it is often accused of, despite illogical ideas about God and Charity! Time to ponder don’t you think? In that worldview every man had his station. Every station had its job cut out. Everyone was interdependent and everyone ultimately believed in God. In the idea that we do not own or possess what we have, not even our children or our assets, all that is around us and with us is God and belongs to God. What we can lay claim to is only that which is within us! That is all. That thought lead to a long spiritual quest which is what we are famous for but lest we forget, India was a leading economy in the world despite massive lootings up UNTIL 200 years ago!!

So, no, we are not directly responsible for the mess we are in, this is how the British left us after two centuries of foreign rule which was preceded by a few more centuries of Mughal rule. That this treasure survives, is intact and is guarded zealously by it's erstwhile guardians ought to be a matter of pride. Like the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) which oversees the functioning and management of the Harmandir Saheb and other major Gurudwaras of the Sikhs, let there be a body of Hindus who will look after their scared spaces themselves. Let Lakshmi remain where she belongs, with her beloved spouse Padmanabha. Let us have the grace to accept our faith as being as important as anyone else’s. Let the treasure be with the legitimate owner, let the State provide security, now that it has made a mess of kicking the rabid sleeping dog awake. Meanwhile let others who have no connection with the temple, it's practices and Hinduism stay away, instead of pontificating on matters that are beyond their pale of intelligence as well as influence.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/chunk-ht-ui-viewssectionpage-interviews/The-riches-belong-to-nobody-certainly-not-to-our-family/Article1-719270.aspx
Interview : Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Verma, the former King of Tranvancore