This is a subject that in the past I had not given so much importance because despite having read about this temple, which is also known as the golden temple, I imagined that it had a similar past to the other temples in the area.
I was writing a post on the topic not yet pushed the button. You beat me
@irjO. My line of force is more to look at historical and religious origins to demystify it as much as possible.
This is a subject that in the past I had not given so much importance because despite having read about this temple, which is also known as the golden temple, I imagined that it had a similar past to the other temples in the area.
Currently, golden temple is name used for Sikh Gurdwara in Amristar in Punjab for its Gold coating. Gold coating on the temple can be found in most popular Indian temples. Most of them lost in other religious group invasions and occupations over the centuries. here is
some and there are more. The interest in this specific temple's became only visible during the last decade due to court case created by disgruntled priest forcing the court system to open it.
But the construction method of the temple entrance is very admirable, it is not known how it was really built or who did it but I guess we could answer that by thinking that the same methods were used as other megalithic constructions I think.
There are many temples in similar patterns (whether gold plated or not), many lost to invasions. You will find thousands of video's talking about many heavy Indian monuments which can only be lifted using some lost technology. May be or May be not.
This temple topic ( or the public perception of it atleast or "sensational" parts) on Indian news for at least 10 years. I think the attraction to this topic falls under different categories. Wealth ( at least $US 1 Trillion )of itself is a big attraction for outsiders.
- History: Indian nationalists who complain how much they were looted by Muslim invaders ( 1100AD -1800AD) and British later with usual issues. Atleast, for me, The real question is how did this treasure survive after 1000 years of invasions from North.
- Religion: Orthodox Hindu believers who believe in their doctrines that protected the wealth along with antiquities of their religious texts.
- Financial: Outsiders who are not aware of local sensitivities who wonder "How can you leave the treasure like that". India has so much poverty, why can't you use it? It is not that simple when considered political compulsions that rely on religious sensibilities and public distrust on the dysfunctional authorities and so on.
- mystery: Mystery and fear component of snakes, chants, curses and so on. Note: Hindu religions has all sorts of animals mentioned here.
I will try to address each component and that means some detours.
The temple is located in Thiruvananthapuram, south of India. It is not really known who built it, apparently the ''experts'' are dating its construction to the Sangam literature period which is around 1800 to 2000 years ago. However, there are researchers who say it is much older than that.
In my view,
"Who built" it can't be answered without "When". South India, the home of Dravidian cultures, contains 4 major language groups. This temple in Kerala belong to the Malayalam speaking population. Each state has their own share of popular temples they like. Until the last century, long distance travel is risky, so the patronage for this temple is mainly from mostly locals and rulers. Given that it is port city on arabian city for trade, it has good income.
Wiki says
Several extant Hindu Texts, like the Vishnu Purana, Brahma Purana, Matsya Purana, Varaha Purana, Skanda Purana, Padma Purana, Vayu Purana, Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata mention this shrine. The Temple has been referred to in the (only recorded) Sangam period of literature between 500 BCE and 300 CE several times.
Are these reference to purana's are reliable to maintain authenticity of the antiquity? : probably
Hindu religion and its deities changed over time. Hindu texts historically fall under
Shruthi ( "As heard") and Smriti ( "As Remembered"). Vedas fall under Shruti ("As heard") mainly during Vedic period ( 1400 BC - 600 BC) patronized by local rulers called Janapada's and
mahajanapada's , which gradually expanded from ( North to West) as shown in this
"History of India: Every year" video.
By 600 BC, due to Brahmin excesses, alternative religions formed in the form of Buddhism and Jainism forcing the rewriting of the Hindu texts from ritualistic Vedas. Here is some organization of Hindu texts.
One can easily see specific pattern changes in the Smritis ( after 600 BC) and Shrutis(Vedas- until 600 BC), though the themes of questions of interest are same.
- Minor gods in Vedas ( Vishnu and Shiva) became major Gods in Puranas.
- Most of the Purana's is the story of incarnations of Vishnu in variations w.r.t animals depicts, direction of movement etc. as wrote here. Not all Purana's has same location of origins. Some Puranas only heard in some regions.
- Most of population is aware of the ithihasa's( Ramayana and Mahabharata) and some what Purana's . All other texts has to be interpreted by brahmin experts or Sanskrit experts or Sadhu's. Interesting part of the Ramayan and Mahabharata is, it is the story of over lap geographic locations of Vedic Janapada's with later Vedic god( Vishnu) reincarnations ( Rama and Krishna) etc.
- Northern Vedic Janapada's (kingdoms) Gandhara, Kuru, Panchala comes up in Mahabharata. C's mention Arjuna in Mahabharata as "fictional"
- Kosala( Ayodhya as capital) comes in Ramayan. C's mention Rama as "High priest influenced by Confederation"
- Interestingly, C's say Ankhor-Wat was build by 4D STS in 1100BC where some of depictions of these stories are depicted. Well, 4D STS doesn't have time and they can go back and time and put it too. What i find it interesting is, these purana's and ithihasa's are combination of Vedic kingdoms and what is Anghkhor Wat pictures with later vedic gods put in the format of "fight between good and evil". Historicization of Myth and Mythicization of History at work. It makes sense, when we look religion as a means of rallying people behind some thing or ruler, having a history give some legitimacy to the narration.
Any way, The temple seems to have been there during early
Tamil Sangam period and
Purana's seems slowly evolved during this period, each from different regions and packaged into one grouping. There are 3 periods that repeat ( 200BC-500BC, 9th century, 18th century) in the articles related to the temple.
This temple should have been built and rebuilt many many times. Architecturally, there is nothing special or like many other temples. Building some vaults ( 20ft below) under a temple santum sanctorum where nobody allowed except priests( common custom) is not a big technological achievement when one has the means and resources. India geographically protected by water in 3 directions and other side by Himalayas. Trade wise they are all over that region - Indian ocean, Arabian sea, Indo-china (many kings around 1AD are hindu kings) , lots of trade through ocean
routes to Rome.
Indo-Roman trade relations (see also the spice trade and incense road) was trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Trade through the overland caravan routes via Asia Minor and the Middle East, though at a relative trickle compared to later times, preceded the southern trade route via the Red Sea which started around the beginning of the Common Era (CE) following the reign of Augustus and his conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE.
The southern route so helped enhance trade between the ancient Roman Empire and the Indian subcontinent, that Roman politicians and historians are on record decrying the loss of silver and gold to buy silk to pamper Roman wives, and the southern route grew to eclipse and then totally supplant the overland trade route.
The current Gopuram is built in
18th century by founder of Travencore kingdom
Marthanda Varma who built his kingdom by defeating dutch with the help of British and French, later his successors became princely state under British. Some sources say he is responsible for the setting up this protection through chant.
Here we are talking about span of 2500 years. Lot change, local rulers fight and loot. But, wealth is still in the same place( thanks to water on 3 sides, himalayas) . If one reads Indian History, If one Hindu king won a war over another Hindu King, they simple looted the wealth, But the diety is lifted to different location as a symbol of victory and they haven't destroyed the temple not to offend the population. India has healthy GDP through 1800 years after 1AD before
British destroyed village economy.
From 1 CE to 1000 CE, India had a 32 percent share of global GDP. During the second millennium, Islamic invasions disrupted economic activity, and India yielded the top spot to China. Still, India’s share remained at 28-24 percent between 1000 CE and 1700 CE. By 1947, when India became free, the country’s GDP comprised around three percent of the global economy.
This temple is only one of 108 principal temples for Vaishnaism in the country and only one in 13 in the Kerala. There are lot many famous temples ( ex:
Somanath temple) that were wealthy during medieval times, that were destroyed and plundered by muslim invaders coming from the northern to south. As a whole India with 600,000 villages at least 100,000 documented temples.
The temple is one of the 108 principal
Divya Desams ("Holy Abodes") in
Vaishnavism and is glorified in the
Divya Prabandha. The
Divya Prabandha glorifies this shrine as being among the 13
Divya Desam in Malai Nadu (corresponding to present-day Kerala with Kanyakumari District). The 8th century Tamil poet Alvar
Nammalvar sang the glories of Padmanabha. The
Ananthapuram temple in Kasaragod is believed to be the original seat of Padmanabhaswamy ("Moolasthanam").
How did this temple alone survive with its wealth intact, while all else disappeared to invaders/occupiers?
If we look at the above video of timelines, this specific southern tip, has only one non-hindu rulers until 1800. Sure, it has Buddhism and Jainism supported rulers 2000 years back, but they are not anti-Hindu like Muslims and Christians. Indians big into religious and temples stored lot of wealth. These are approximate times from the video.
Early pandyas ( 540 BC) , cholas ( 340 BC) cheras : 299 BCE , ay: 192BCE - 367 CE , Kalabhras : 367CE - 599CE , Middle pandyas - 599 CE -924CE, Chola Empire : 925CE - Later Pandyas - 1215 - 1330,
Delhi sultanate - 1330 - 1338 , Vijayanagras - 1339 - 1650, venad - 1650-
Travancore- 1750 - 1799.
Except short few years between 1330-1338 AD period this small southern most pocket, didn't have any anti-Hindu rulers until 1800.
Being on the south most tip, it is easy to ignore and this region spanned another prosperous Hindu Kingdom called Vijayanagara that ruled most of the south India for 250 years. As per our history lessons, this
Vijayanagara is so prosperous that gold sold on street corner on carts. Probably it is like modern day Dubai.
The economy of the empire was largely dependent on agriculture. Sorghum (jowar), cotton, and pulse legumes grew in semi-arid regions, while sugarcane, rice, and wheat thrived in rainy areas. Betel leaves, areca (for chewing), and coconut were the principal cash crops, and large-scale cotton production supplied the weaving centers of the empire's vibrant textile industry. Spices such as turmeric, pepper, cardamom, and ginger grew in the remote Malnad hill region and were transported to the city for trade. The empire's capital city was a thriving business centre that included a burgeoning market in large quantities of precious gems and gold. Prolific temple-building provided employment to thousands of masons, sculptors, and other skilled artisans.
As usual, empires come and go, with it their wealth, but this tip some how went to another Hindu kingdom Venad ( 1650AD) after Vijayanagara empire, while most of the south fell to other Muslim rulers. Even around 1800 AD, when the it ( then Travancore state) became semi-independent Princely state under British rule, it has control of some stuff. The main thing rulers of Travancore ( 1750-1799) did was they declared themselves as servants of temple God, became controllers of the temple, used this temple as a "secret Bank vault" converting taxes to gold, storing and has records over thousands of years.
Source of Wealth
The valuables are believed to have been accumulated in the temple over several thousands of years, having been donated to the Deity, and subsequently stored in the Temple, by various Dynasties, such as the
Cheras, the
Pandyas, the
Kolathiris, the
Pallavas, the
Cholas, the
Travancore Royal Family and many other Kings in the recorded history of both South India and beyond, and from the rulers and traders of Mesopotamia, Jerusalem, Greece, Rome, and later from the various colonial powers from Europe, and other countries.
...
There are over 3000 surviving bundles of 'Cadjan' leaves (records) in Archaic Malayalam and Tamil, each bundle consisting of a hundred-thousand leaves, which relate to donations of gold and precious stones made exclusively to the temple over the millennia. Most of these are yet to have been studied and very few have even been glanced at yet. As these pertain exclusively to the donations made over millennia they would throw a lot of light on the story of the treasure.
Most of the vaults are in sanctum sanctorum and some even behind the diety. Except priests, no body is allowed into the sactum santorum as per any hindu temple tradition. Here is
one local account talk about how they hid the gold coating on the deity with some local paste.
As I live within 50m of Padmanabhaswamy temple, I guess I can answer this question, but not with a historical perspective.
Let us divide the answer into a few sub-headings :
1. What is the treasure ?
Until Independence, we had a small princely state under the name 'Thiruvithamcur'. And we had all the stuff that comes along with a princely state - princes, princesses, royal families, fortification, etc.. And we too had wars with neighboring princely states.
Being a princely state, we had received income from various sources - taxes, war victory, in the name of friendship, etc...you name it ! And most of this income was received/converted in the form of gold. Basically, public money in various forms converted/received in gold.
2. How was the treasure found ?
Well, to say the truth - it was a public secret. ! Everybody knew that there was a treasure. There have been numerous occasions where my grandfather told me about the treasure.
I have heard contradictory proclamations about the construction of the temple.
Some say that the temple was constructed with the sole motto of hiding the vast amount of treasure that the kingdom possesses. ie, an alternative to a super-safe vault, to hide it from other native radical rulers and finally the British. Hidden in plain sight !
Anyways, there is one widely accepted theory :
The idol of Padmanabha Swamy is completely covered with gold. And it was not until 2008 that this was found (confirmed actually..everybody knew, like always!). Fearing the british might take away the gold and the treasure (a moment of silence for the Kohinoor gem now resting in the Queen's crown), the then king ordered it to be kept hidden. Hence, it was covered with an unknown mixture (quite simple actually) of household cooking ingredients and some clay. Still, nobody has figured out how it held on for so many decades ! Hence, it was widely accepted that there was a treasure inside the temple.
Here is a
account of attempts to recover the items in one of the vault early 20th century. Here there is lot of spin citing same author Emily Gilchrist Hatch according one's own glasses. There are 8 vaults(including recently found 2 more ), it was not clear which one is this. Indian public like to put it as "greedy Britisher's attempt to loot", British would say "we are just helping you". Well, you decide what it is.
However, Emily Gilchrist Hatch, who was in Trivandrum in 1933, offered an explanation in her book, Travancore: A guide book for the visitor (Oxford University Press, 1933). She not only recalled the 1931 opening of the vault, but also mentioned a similar but unsuccessful attempt that had been made in 1908.
Ms. Hatch, who in the preface to her book profusely thanked the Travancore government for all the “help and counsel” extended to her, recorded that the temple had a vast amount of wealth ‘lain in vaults.'
“About 25 years ago,” she wrote, “when the State needed additional money, it was thought expedient to open these chests and use the wealth they contained.” “A group of people” got together and attempted to enter the vaults with torches. When they found them “infested with cobras” they “fled for their lives.”
...
Ms. Hatch's book provided a description of how large wooden chests were placed “ready to receive the daily offerings.” She mentioned that as and when the chests became full they were lowered into the vaults for safe-keeping. This may partially explain how votive offerings like gold coins reached the vaults. But the description does not throw much light on how large artefacts such as the golden icon that was recently discovered reached the vaults.
Does the chants and curses can control the animals to protect treasure?: Scientific Materialism will say it BS. For me, this reminded me a little incident when I was 5. We went to our grand mothers village for funeral and heard a story of treasure in some corner of the house according to some astrologer/spychic/guru whoever. But, eldest son of whoever opens will die. Obviously they sold the house. These type of beliefs exist in villages where most of the Indian voters lives. so the politics of it.
Some body wrote about
simple rational explanation of survivability of snakes in that environment if they have underground tunnels. from those tunnels they can come and go for their feeding to some location or forest . If some body ( here Travencore family don't want it to be opened), wants it, they themselves can release some snakes to scare the hell of people. After all, India is documented as land of snake charmers. Can't they do that, if they can hide it for 2000 years?
C's talked about any body with sufficient mental strength can create Curse. In this topic, it may take the form of highly spiritual Sadhu needs to use Garuda mantra to nullify curse as written in many of these articles. Before I go that far, one needs to look at that possibility of tunnels. Here is a interesting snippet from
forbes article.
(UPDATED 8/22/16) According to the India Times, an audit conducted into the assets of the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram has shown that a massive amount of gold from its repositories has mysteriously disappeared. Up to 769 Gold Pots and Silver bars have been reported missing. Some skeptics are also suggesting that there is a hidden tunnel beneath the chamber that allowed the architects to lock the chamber doors from within, making it impossible to breach. This secret tunnel could invariably have led to many years of plundering the treasure trove without anyone noticing.
Is the entire snake story is a simple bluff on a treasure that accidentally survived for few thousand years?
perhaps we were connected at some level thinking on the same topic. And yes, your input is very valuable, I was looking for that type of historical and religious origins details.
