Hidden Treasure Worth Billions

Officials announced that a treasure containing sacks of diamonds and gold coins as well as golden idols, jewellry and other riches has been discovered in the secret vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, in the southwestern state of Kerala, India. Estimates of its worth have been rising and it is now thought to be worth $20 billion.

God’s wealth belongs to the people, not to the king. It’s meaningless to say that it belongs to Hindus or any particular religious community

The Hindu temple was built in the 16th century by the kings of the then Kingdom of Travancore to serve as a royal chapel for the rulers of Travancore. The six vaults containing the treasure have been undisturbed for over a century. Assessment of the treasure began on June 27 after a lawyer concerned about the security of the treasure petitioned India's Supreme Court, which then appointed a seven-member panel of experts to invent of the treasure. The panel does not have the power to determine to whom the treasure will belong. Estimates of the treasure's worth are rising, provoking a heated debate as to how the treasure will be used in a country that has 450 million poverty-stricken people.

The CM of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, announced that the treasure would remain with the temple, and security matters would be decided in consultation with the Travancore Royal Family, the temple management, and the temple priest.

"The gold was offered to the lord. It is the property of the temple. The government will protect the wealth at the temple," Oommen Chandy said. Meanwhile, a large number of armed police have been deployed around the temple to protect the treasure.

 Among the dissenters is eminent jurist V R Krishna Iyer, who said the treasure should be put in a national trust for the peoples' benefit. "God’s wealth belongs to the people, not to the king. It’s meaningless to say that it belongs to Hindus or any particular religious community," said Iyer. "A mechanism should be constructed to ensure that the benefits of it should reach the poor and the needy and not the rich."

Five of the six vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple have been inventoried.

Also information to the press revealed that the treasure, including a golden idol of Mahavishnu and a golden 'anki', were found in one of the vaults, estimated to weigh 30 kilograms, along with precious stones, silver, two coconut shells of pure gold and another golden idol as well as other jewels and valuable coins. The committee hopes to find more treasure when the sixth and final vault is opened. This vault is thought to contain the bulk of the wealth.

Keralan officials in a preliminary estimate said that the treasure was worth over $11.2 billion; those estimates have now risen to $20 billion. Historians say that the temple's location on a site through which passed lucrative trade routes support the higher evaluations.

"Traders, who used to come from other parts of the country and abroad for buying spices and other commodities, used to make handsome offerings to the deity for not only his blessings but also to please the then rulers.