Padmanabha’s treasure intact

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The documentation of “invaluable” antiques in vaults A, C and D of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple has been completed. No major theft of temple treasures has been detected during the two-year inventorying and experts reckon the treasures to be worth more than the initial “guesstimate” of Rs 1 lakh crore. There is no clue as to what is inside the mysterious B vault. When and whether it will be opened depends on the late Uthradom Tirunal’s prayer against opening it pending with the Supreme Court.

The next hearing in the apex court is on November 11. Tirunal was the last custodian of the Travan-core royal family. The SC-appointed expert committee, led by archaeologist M.V. Nair, has packed and stored the hoard of gems, crowns, mounds of gold and silver coins and brass platters in 50 steel boxes, now preserved in the refurbished Vault A. Godrej was entrusted with the work. Three archaeologists, 10 engineers and videographers and several gemologists toiled for nearly two years at a specially-erected enclosure between vaults B and C, with gun-toting cops standing guard outside, to itemise treasures and reconcile them with records preserved at the temple.

“We have found to our great relief that there has been no major theft of treasures at the vaults we examined. The entire pro-cess has been videograp-hed and the digital data secured in a server room. All precautions have been taken to prevent any further damage to treasures,” said an official on the expert team.