The experts' committee constituted by the Supreme Court for inventorying and scientifically documenting the priceless treasures found in the vaults of the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram commenced its work today.
The panel, headed by eminent conservationist Dr M V Nair, is going about the job on the basis of a thorough plan with the use of electronic gadgets and devices supplied on order by state-run Keltron.
According to temple sources, the committee would be initially opening two vaults, which mostly contain articles like silver and brass utensils and lamps that are taken out twice a year during festivals. They would be recorded and documented.
The work is being done jointly with the oversight committee on temple treasures headed by former High Court judge M N Krishnan.
The oversight committee, also set up by the Apex Court, had opened four of the six vaults of the temple last year and found them containing an amazing array of precious wealth, drawing worldwide attention to the temple and its history.
Though the panel was not mandated to quantify the value of the treasure in money terms, it has been widely speculated to cross Rs 1 lakh crore by modest estimates.
Experts and historians, however, have decried the tendency to put a price tag on such a rare and antique wealth considering their cultural and heritage value.
The sprawling temple, an architectural splendour in granite, was reubilt in its present form in 18th century by the Travancore Royal House, which ruled southern Kerala and adjoining parts of Tamil Nadu before the integration of the princely state into the Indian Union in 1947.
Even after the independence, the temple continued to be governed by a trust controlled by the erstwhile royal family, to whom Lord Padmanabha (Vishnu in the reclining posture) is their family deity.
The process of accounting of its wealth, whose existence has been a secret for outside world, was ordered by the court last year based on a litigation initiated by a former IPS officer late T P Sundara Rajan.
He had pleaded for the state takeover of the temple from the trust controlled by the royal house contending it was important for secured preservation of the priceless wealth. Though the Kerala High Court directed the state to consider the take-over of the temple, it has been challenged by the temple trust in the apex court.