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Friday, July 8, 2011

Paddy's Inkpad: Oh!...My Lord Shree Padmanabha…!

Paddy's Inkpad: Oh!...My Lord Shree Padmanabha…!

Similar thought published as Editorial on Times of India, Hyderabad Edition: "GOD'S OWN MUSEUM"...

Monday, July 4, 2011

Oh!...My Lord Shree Padmanabha…!

One Hundred Thousand Crores and still counting….?!! I don’t know whether Gandhiji, his predecessors and his successors who started and led the freedom movement realized the magnitude of the wealth looted by British at that point of time! But, for sure, the common man of India had neither realized nor recognized the essence or spirit of wealth we had as a country of many Kingdoms…! We, as kids learnt that there was a ‘Kohinoor’ diamond which was transported to Britain along with many other precious metals. But what we really don’t know is the total estimated worth looted by all invaders, right from the predecessors of Mughals up-till British, apart from our modern day corrupt politicians, who are no different from those invaders!

Understanding the fact that ‘Travancore Dynasty’ was one of the smallest Kingdoms of India, one should be able to imagine the quantum of wealth we would have had in our country, as Kingdoms in northern parts of India were much larger in terms of geographical jurisdiction and power?! Now, it is time for us to thank the 'Travancore Dynasty' for safe guarding (for whatever reason) this wealth from all those invaders, with remarkable intelligence/ wisdom! If we could measure the age of these ‘Nilavaras’ (Store Rooms/ Vaults) and their last closure, we can actually arrive at a hypothetical probability of reasons and geo-political compulsions of this cover up…!!

What is important, is to have an extensive research initiated to get information on all the dynasties of India and accordingly each of their ‘Paradevata’ temples (Family Temples) can be checked for any such storage places, which may lead us to more hidden treasures across the country and enrich the GDP of the country.

What need to be done with this wealth is to be discussed in length & breadth with the awaited Supreme Court verdict as the base of the discussions. However, the heritage values of these assets are huge and there can be a world standard museum built under the temple trust with advanced security systems in place. We may require international expertise to implement this with strict timelines and clear deadlines for completion.

There are many interpretations regarding accumulation of this wealth in the temple. The Kings of Travancore Dynasty were known as ‘Padmanabha Dasa’ (The Servants of Lord Padmanabha) as they had dedicated their Kingdom to ‘Lord Padmanabha’ and when every dispute was resolved by the ‘King’, the penalty was donated to the ‘Lord’ and hence obviously the wealth would have got accumulated in the temple. This contradicts my earlier view of possibility of having such treasures across the country with various dynasties as their practices were different. However, my point is to open a thought process towards a huge opportunity for establishing our supremacy not only in the knowledge, cultural and spiritual spheres, but also in the areas of craft and wealth and of course, more such exposures truly will enrich and inspire our growth as well.