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14-07-2020
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (CAPITAL OF AN INDIAN STATE KERALA): India’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the right of a former royal dynasty to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, one of the world’s richest places of worship, after the state government tried to take it over when the family patriarch died.
When one of the vaults of the towering centuries-old Hindu temple in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state was opened in 2011, it was found to hold diamonds by the sackful along with tones of gold coins and jewelry – a hoard estimated at more than $20bn.
The Kerala High Court had ruled that year, after public-interest petitions, that the Travancore family must give up its custodianship of the temple following the death of its head, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruling Maharaja of Travancore, in 1991 but on Monday, the Supreme Court reversed that decision.
“We allow the appeal of the royal family of Travancore. Death does not affect Shebaitship (management and 
maintenance of the deity) of the Travancore Family,” justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra said in their order.
Several Hindu temples in India have wealth running to the billions of dollars as devotees give gold and other precious objects as gifts to spiritual or religious institutions that run hospitals, schools and colleges.
The Tirupati temple in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has gold reserves of over 9,000 kg, making it the world’s richest Hindu temple. It also has billions of rupees in bank deposits.
The Supreme Court said a new committee that the royal family will set up to run the temple, some seven stories high and replete with ornate carvings, will have the right to decide what to do with the temple’s wealth, including the contents of another ancient vault yet to be opened.
“A large number of devotees had prayed for us. The judgment is their victory,” Gauri Lakshmi Bai, a member of the family, told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. (Int’l News Desk)
