I think the income of the temples in the form of offerings are free of tax.
In the case of SSB, the present trustees have paid tax on the value of the
amount recently found.
Under Income-tax the trusts can apply for exemption from tax u/s 11, 12
and 12A.
I am not very clear about the other point you have made. This is checking
about deity and giving donation after satisfying yourself. Do you mean checking
about the God or the people behind it ?
If we have to check about the deity and then give, it is charity and not offering.
Shri Ranganathan,
I tend to agree with you that we have sidelined AnantaPadmanabha and branched off into a certain view of charity which Smt. Harini advocates. Since, however, she has justified this branching off on some grounds, I give below my views on both the Temple finds and Smt. Harini's theory of charity.
All the discussions today, in this thread as also in the different media, seem to forget that the Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram (PTT herefater, for convenience of typing) was a sort of a trust managed by the எட்டரை யோகக்கார் (eṭṭarai yogakkār ) and எட்டுவீட்டில் பிள்ளைமார் (eṭṭuvīṭṭil piḷḷaimār) till aniḻaṃ tirunāḷ- mārttāṇḍavarma (ATM) dismantled the control of both the yogam and Pillais, exterminated them and their lineages completely and from then onwards, for all practical purposes, PTT was the personal property of the royal family. Though ATM made the തൃപ്പടി ദാനം (tṛppaṭi dānaṃ) and announced that everything in his kingdom was owned by Lord Padmanabha and that he was ruling as a representative (Padmanabha dāsa), it was more of a political strategy of a very shrewd ruler; ATM had conquered several small "kingdoms" and brought them under his enlarged tiruvitāṃ kūr, (திரு இது ஆம் கூர் or, in English, திரு—Sree (Lakshmi, prosperity), இது ஆம்—is this, கூர் - share, or lot just as we say கூறு போட்டு விற்க்கும் காய்கறி), he knew perfectly well the past history and was sure that subterranean disgruntlement would again make disgruntled elements to rise against his rule, perhaps with the help of the Portuguese and the Dutch (who had visible presence in the region due to their trading interests) or with the all too willing help of the Mysore Sultans, Hyder Ali and Tippu. As a master stroke he symbolically made all the land that of God Padmanabha who was worshipped from very early ages by the Cheras and their subjects and any attempt to take to arms against the king would have meant rising in rebellion against Lord God Himself. ATM's strategy was superbly effective and there was complete unity and peace in the entire kingdom.
The Travancore Royal family considered Padmanabha as their be all and end all of existence. ATM reportedly started the renovation of the ancient PTT and built 5 of the 7 storeys of the gopuram and installed the present idol, made from 12008 saalagraamams brought from the river Gandaki in Nepal and plastered with a special item called கடு சர்க்கரை யோகம் (kaṭuśarkkarayogaṃ), a paste made from innumerable herbs, minerals, plant and tree parts in a very laborious and now extinct technology. The earlier idol is reported to have been made from இலுப்பை மரம் which was replaced by the present one. All these happened in the period between 1729-1758, the reign of ATM. The next king Karthika Thirunal whose reign was up to 1798, was known as Dharma Raja because he offered shelter to all those who fled from Kozhikode and Kochin state during Tippu's invasion and also helped them to settle down in Travancore state. He completed the construction of the PTT gopuram.
There is a hearsay that during the reign of Dharma Raja, the PTT cellars were opened and the cash utilised to help the population to withstand a famine, but authorities say that there is no mention of any such thing in the matilakam records of the Temple which meticulously record even the smallest transaction and event. There are one or two such similar opening of the cellars being rumoured popularly but these are not supported by the written records of the Temple. Hence it is correct to conclude that the rulers of Travancore meticulously preserved the Temple Treasures, without succumbing to temptation.
Harini is of the view that such treasures are idle money and do not serve to generate production and/or development. May be her pov is correct according to modern economic theory. But the Travancore kings mostly lived and ruled in an era in which savings were a source of economic strength and, moreover, the temple's assets have all along been considered as sacred and to be untouched. So, the question now is whether the encashing of the treasure and monetising it today is the more useful, appropriate and beneficial policy for the state. Even if the answer is 'yes', it is the Supreme Court which is to decide the future course and we will have to follow its ruling. But the majority of the people of Kerala feel that no such step should be done.