Salutations to that Vishnu

"...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment - an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by - I was struck dumb with amazement".

These were the words of Howard Carter, when he discovered the tomb of the boy prince Tutankhamen. One wonders what he would have said if he had entered one of the vaults that I'm writing about.

Close to the southern tip of India, lies thiruvananthapuram, home to the padmanabhaswamy temple, pretty famous among the Mallu folk as we like to call them.

But, in the last month or so, its been among the topics which have enhanced viewership of channels such as BBC, CNN etc.

One lakh crore. That's the figure. One lakh crore rupees or 25 billion dollars. That is the worth of all the gold, silver and precious stones found when two vaults beneath the temple were opened recently.

I had the opportunity to visit the temple a few weeks back. This post is a recollection of memories that linked themselves up as I walked through the courtyard of the temple.

I was born in trivandrum, and my grandparents still live there. Year after year, for summer vacations, I used to be packed off there for my parents wanted peace of mind for a few days at least.

My great grandmom who passed away recently was a storehouse of tales about ancient times. My great granddad worked in the royal court of travancore. He had mentioned to her a number of times, about the riches that lay buried beneath the monazite sands of the temple.

So, it was no secret. Yet, it remained shut to the world.

As I turned into the street leading into the temple, I passed a structure which looked extremely familiar. The still functional chinese clock from the 16th century. The chinese man on the clock overlooks the temple pond on the opposite side of the street. However, the pond was only a recent addition. Years ago, there stood a well, as deep as an abyss.
Vaguely, I remembered a tale narrated to me in my younger days. Travancore was in the midst of an onslaught. On the brink of defeat, and with the thought of his riches being carried away, the king hurled down half his kingdom's wealth into the well. sealed it with an offering to the deity, and built a pond over it.

Myth or reality, is something that has not been investigated till today. Rumor goes that the pond floor has been searched, but the seal has been camouflaged so well, that it hasn't been discovered yet. Another tale that went around for a while was that the chinese man's stare from the clock, is in line of sight on the seal 4 times every year.

As I went around the temple, each one of the 400 odd intricately carved pillars on both sides of the temple stood with a maiden emerging out of them with a lamp pressed on her bosom. These lamps are lit faithfully every year, with the patronage of the royal family. Testimony to the riches of travancore dynasty. My great grandmom used to repeatedly mention about the free food served to the people of the empire every single day!!

The kings of travancore for centuries had been financing free food on the courtyards of the temple from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening. A meal for every single person irrespective of his caste. Not an elementary meal with just the essentials, but a sumptuous one with delicacies of every kind. People would eat before they began work and after they finished. Dinner was unnecessary after that. The expenses for all this would be borne by the kings coffers. Such was philanthropy of travancore, a little known kingdom in south India.

In my younger days, the deity was black as soot, and tube lights blazed to illuminate the sanctum. But a few years back, one mid April afternoon, one of the priests of the temple exerted a little more force while cleaning the idol. For a moment he thought his eyes deceived him when he saw the tip of the lord's toe change from pitch black to the glitter of gold. In the next two hours, the idol was returned to how it had been for centuries. Spread over 3 chambers, each leading into the other. The head and chest in chamber one, navel in chamber two and the legs in chamber 3. The 15 foot long idol was covered in gold and illuminated in the natural light of oil lamps. The glitter of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and opals were unmistakable. And that is how it is today.

The characteristic white sands led me to the sanctum of krishna, beneath which are the vaults holding the immense riches recently discovered. A bigger vault bearing the sign of the serpent still remains unopened, for it has been sealed so well, that the most modern of equipment fail to open it without damage.

My great granddad's words of multiple vaults, each leading into another forming a maze beneath the temple became a vivid picture as I walked on. He never joked about these things. If two vaults contain riches of over a lakh crore, its impossible to imagine what the vault of mazes contain.

As I exited the temple, the last one hour had made me realized the magnanimity of the kings of the Travancore dynasty. They had riches beyond imagination, and yet were uncorrupted by greed or power. Two aspects of the human mind which are difficult to control. When today's politicians fight to drain every penny from the public into their own pockets, the selflessness and non attachment of the kings is unfathomable.

A heated debate is on the cards as to what happens to these treasures. One section of the society favors with its use for social development while another is in favor of preserving it as a national heritage. In my opinion, if the treasure is used for national development, then the stashed treasures of every temple, mosque, church and synagogue in the country have to be used for the same purpose for fairness sake.

Perhaps, the rulers of travancore have already shown us the way. For they have surrendered everything they own, not caring about how many zeros follow the one. For them, one thing was above all, faith in him.

शान्ताकारं भुजगशयनं पद्मनाभं सुरेशं
विश्वाधारं गगनसदृशं मेघवर्ण शुभाङ्गम् ।
लक्ष्मीकान्तं कमलनयनं योगिभिर्ध्यानगम्यम्
वन्दे विष्णुं भवभयहरं सर्वलोकैकनाथम् ॥


To him who has a serene appearance, who rests on a serpent who has a lotus on his navel and who is the lord of the devas,
who sustains the universe, who is boundless and infinite like the sky, whose colour is like the cloud and who has a beautiful and auspicious body,
To him who is the husband of lakshmi, whose eyes are like lotus and who is attainable to the yogis by meditation,
Salutations to that vishnu who removes the fear of worldly existence and who is the lord of all the worlds.