C
CHANDRU1849
Guest
The following is the complete text of the petition filed by the erstwhile royal family of Travancore in respect of Sree Padmanabha Temple, publlshed in The Hindu today:
QUOTE
The former royal family of erstwhile Travancore, led by Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi, has moved the Supreme Court seeking an opportunity to vindicate its honour.
In an emotionally charged application, five of its members said the family had been ‘demonised’ by the widely publicized ‘cruel and baseless’ inferences in the report of amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam to the Supreme Court on the administration and ‘treasures’ stored in the vaults of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Tiruvananthapuram.
The suspicions raised in report would ‘cut off like force/life bloodline which connects the temple and the family.’
The application alleged that insinuations had been against the family in the report, such as ‘organized extraction’ of gold and silver by persons belonging to the ‘highest echelons’ and ‘horrific ends’ meted out to staffers who resisted the thefts.
Mr Subramaniam’s report said the lack of an adequate police investigation in such cases was a ‘telling sign of the parallelism based on monarchic rule that appears to pre-dominate the social psyche of the people of Trivandrum.’
The application said that when ‘absence of prejudice and soberness’ should be the accepted norms, the report had decreed a verdict of condemnation.
The family said the amicus curiae changed his opinion of them from ‘bhakts’ to ‘villains,’ insinuating that they were involved in theft, violent and heinous crimes, including a hand in murder, and collusion with the State of Kerala.
The family said it had been deprived of the ‘sacred and centuries-old’ privilege to keep a set of keys of the temple and kallaras (vaults). The family wondered how it could be accused of stealing the treasures which it had ‘flooded’ Sree Padmanabha Swamy, their dynastic deity, with in total surrender.
The family members had watched over it for centuries as His ‘slaves’ or Padmanabadasas. ‘In spite of this wealth (which totally belongs to Sree Padmanabha Swamy) being cared for with such dedication, which is a unique instance of purity of faith, devotion and integrity displayed by a royal family in India, and perhaps in the world, appallingly, the family is by implication and otherwise, among many other accusations, being accused of organized extraction,’ the application said.
The family said the State was spending crores of rupees on multi-layered security for the temple, while they managed to guard the treasure for centuries, even during times of war, without any outside help. In fact, the family expressed anxiety at the graphic description of every nook and cranny of the temple complex, even the blueprint of the temple structure and photographs of the vaults in the report.
UNQUOTE
Any member who is well versed in Kerala History may please reply on the royal family, Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and its wealth etc.
QUOTE
The former royal family of erstwhile Travancore, led by Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi, has moved the Supreme Court seeking an opportunity to vindicate its honour.
In an emotionally charged application, five of its members said the family had been ‘demonised’ by the widely publicized ‘cruel and baseless’ inferences in the report of amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam to the Supreme Court on the administration and ‘treasures’ stored in the vaults of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Tiruvananthapuram.
The suspicions raised in report would ‘cut off like force/life bloodline which connects the temple and the family.’
The application alleged that insinuations had been against the family in the report, such as ‘organized extraction’ of gold and silver by persons belonging to the ‘highest echelons’ and ‘horrific ends’ meted out to staffers who resisted the thefts.
Mr Subramaniam’s report said the lack of an adequate police investigation in such cases was a ‘telling sign of the parallelism based on monarchic rule that appears to pre-dominate the social psyche of the people of Trivandrum.’
The application said that when ‘absence of prejudice and soberness’ should be the accepted norms, the report had decreed a verdict of condemnation.
The family said the amicus curiae changed his opinion of them from ‘bhakts’ to ‘villains,’ insinuating that they were involved in theft, violent and heinous crimes, including a hand in murder, and collusion with the State of Kerala.
The family said it had been deprived of the ‘sacred and centuries-old’ privilege to keep a set of keys of the temple and kallaras (vaults). The family wondered how it could be accused of stealing the treasures which it had ‘flooded’ Sree Padmanabha Swamy, their dynastic deity, with in total surrender.
The family members had watched over it for centuries as His ‘slaves’ or Padmanabadasas. ‘In spite of this wealth (which totally belongs to Sree Padmanabha Swamy) being cared for with such dedication, which is a unique instance of purity of faith, devotion and integrity displayed by a royal family in India, and perhaps in the world, appallingly, the family is by implication and otherwise, among many other accusations, being accused of organized extraction,’ the application said.
The family said the State was spending crores of rupees on multi-layered security for the temple, while they managed to guard the treasure for centuries, even during times of war, without any outside help. In fact, the family expressed anxiety at the graphic description of every nook and cranny of the temple complex, even the blueprint of the temple structure and photographs of the vaults in the report.
UNQUOTE
Any member who is well versed in Kerala History may please reply on the royal family, Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and its wealth etc.
