Thiruvananthapuram: The enormous treasures locked up in multiple vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala’s capital is likely to turn a virtual magnet for Kerala tourism to attract visitors in coming years, going by a proposal to exhibit the riches to the public.
The mountain of jewellery, antiques and ancient coins dating from the times of the Roman empire, are valued at roughly one trillion rupees.
A proposal for such an exhibition of the temple treasures, drawn up by some Kerala-based organisations, has been submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who in turn has taken it up with the federal minister for tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam.
Those mooting the proposal include the Confederation of Indian Industries, Chamber of Commerce, Trivandrum City Connect, Confederation of Tourism Industries, and the Trivandrum Agenda Task Force.
They believe that such an exhibition of the temple treasures, some of which are royal treasures of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom, will be a game-changer for Kerala tourism in attracting visitors. The project is estimated to involve an outlay of Rs3 billion.
The proposal, however, needs the sanctions of the members of the erstwhile Travancore royal family members and the Supreme Court of India.
The organisations working behind the proposal are planning to prepare a detailed project report and submit it for clearances by the state government, the apex court and the royal family. If all of them approve, the federal government will also be able to contribute to the project.
The treasures of the temple are stored in six vaults, named as A, B, C, D, E and F. Of the six, the ‘B’ vault is yet to be opened. The public came to know about the wealth stored in the temple vaults only when the Supreme Court appointed a team to assess the contents of the various vaults. Since then, tourist flow to the temple has increased even though the public has no access to view the treasures.
About the treasures themselves, there is contradicting opinion in the state, with some arguing that the wealth belongs to the people of Kerala from whom the erstwhile royals collected taxes, while others believe that it belongs to the temple, and a third opinion is that the royals should be allowed to manage it.
