An authority on the history of the Travancore royal family, his extensive area of work has been on the murals and history of the temples of Kerala.
Though newspapers have assessed the worth of the assets found in the cellars, Prof Sashibhushan says it is just mere speculation, and nobody, not even those who made the inventory, has calculated the value yet. All those who have some knowledge of the history of Kerala know about the wealth of the Padmanabhaswamy temple.But only the eldest member of the Travancore royal family knew exactly how much wealth was there in the temple.
There are many who say that the temple's history is as old as the Sangam period. In Silappathikaram (epic poem in Tamil, written in the 5th-6th century AD by Prince Ilango Adigal), a sea-side golden temple called Adagamadam is mentioned.
It also says the deity of the temple is Lord Vishnu in a reclining pose. Kannagi (central character of Silapathikaram) is said to have come to the temple.
Many historians say that the temple mentioned is the Padmanabhaswamy temple as its deity is Lord Vishnu in reclining pose and it is also near the sea- side. Why it was described as a golden temple was because it was a rich temple and also the one with golden thazhikakudams (domes on top of the gopuram). That is why Adagamadam is Padmanabhaswamy temple itself.
The first historical evidence about the temple is available in the Vaishanva Azhvar poet Nammazhvar's creations. These were written in the 9th century.
He had written 10 kirtanas in praise of this temple and the deity. His contemporary Thirumanga Azhvar also had written kirtanas about Padmanabhaswamy. These poems show without any doubt that this temple was in existence in the 9th century.
It is also mentioned in the 12th century in a Sanskrit poem by an unknown poet. In the 13th century, there is a Malayalam creation, Ananthapura Varnanam.
Records show that people like Ramanuja Acharyar, Chaitanya, Guru Nanak, etc visited the temple. Guru Nanak had not started the Sikh religion then; he was a Vaishnava Goswami. He had even written a poem on Sree Padmanabha and it is included in the Adi Granth.
Treasure claimed for some clear cut reasons:
1.In Silappathikaram a sea-side golden temple called Adagamadam is mentioned.
2.Similarities with thiruvattaru temple in tamilnadu
3. Kerala was mainly ruled by tamil kingdoms from A.D's
4.The first historical evidence about the temple is available in the Vaishanva Azhvar poet Nammazhvar's creations. These were written in the 9th century.
Anyway It is the property of the temple. Though the wealth belonged to the temple, in some emergency situations, rulers could avail this for the benefit of the state but they were bound to make restitution as soon as possible.
There was a recession in the 1930s and it is mentioned at many places that they had taken some wealth during that period though there is no evidence to show that.In later days, it belonged to the Travancore royal family. Before that, the five branches of the family had ownership rights. The senior-most member of these five families headed the trust.
There was a group of spiritual advisors to the temple, a sort of board called the Ettara Yogam which consisted of Pottis. There was also one Nair in the yogam. The maharaja was above the Ettara Yogam.The tax collectors of the temple property were called Ettu Veettil Pillas.And they were the children of the maharaja from his Nair wives. There were conflicts between the rulers and the Ettu Veettil Pillas due to which the temple was closed for 50 years or so and it was set fire to in the 17th century.It was reopened when Umayamma Rani ruled the state as the regent Maharani.Later on, disputes arose between the members.
There are a lot of gems also in the chambers, which in all probability can be from the Deccan. As far as I know, they have not so far found anything that throws light on the kind of trade Kerala had with the world. Travancore family got revenue from exporting pepper to the world and they lived from what they earned from this though business from pepper started only in the 17th century.
The head-less archaeology department of the state government (it does not have a director for some time now) says it will take care of the wealth. It is a natural tendency for all to ask for a part of the wealth!
Today, all those who have no competence or knowledge of ancient temple history are spouting all kinds of nonsense.
our expectation is to understand the value of treasure not just by money, its a value of our history and everyone have a role to preserve it.
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