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Temple Speciality

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Sthalam

Across the world, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is&nbsp;renowned for its beauty and grandeur. Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, it is one of the 108 sacred Vishnu temples or &#39;Divya Deshams&#39; in India. The great King of Travancore, Marthanda Varma is said to

have done the renovation work that we see today.Dedicated to Lord Padmanabhaya, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, the famous Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is one of the most popular shrines in India.

The centuries-old Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple has been described in several Hindu scriptures like the Brahma Purana, Matsya Purana, Varaha Purana, Skanda Purana, Padma Purana, Vayu Purana and Bhagavata Purana. The shrine is also mentioned in the Mahabharata, according to experts.&nbsp;The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the state Kerala, India. The name of the city of &#39;Thiruvananthapuram&#39; in Tamil and Malayalam translates to &quot;The City of Lord Ananta&quot;, referring to the main deity of the temple.

The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the&nbsp;Chera style&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dravidian style&nbsp;of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century&nbsp;Gopura.&nbsp;While the&nbsp;Ananthapura temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kumbla&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kasaragod district&nbsp;in Kerala is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity (&quot;Moolasthanam&quot;), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the&nbsp;Adikesava Perumal temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Thiruvattar&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kanyakumari district&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu

The principal deity Padmanabhaswamy (Vishnu) is enshrined in the &quot;Anantha Shayana&quot; posture, the eternal&nbsp;yogic sleep&nbsp;on the infinite&nbsp;serpent Adi Shesha&nbsp;Padmanabhaswamy is the&nbsp;tutelary deity&nbsp;of the&nbsp;royal family of Travancore.

The titular&nbsp;Maharaja of Travancore,&nbsp;Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, is the current trustee of the temple.

Several extant Hindu Texts like the&nbsp;Vishnu Purana,&nbsp;Brahma Purana,Matsya Purana,&nbsp;Varaha Purana,&nbsp;Skanda Purana,&nbsp;Padma Purana,&nbsp;Vayu Purana,&nbsp;Bhagavata Purana&nbsp;etc. mention the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.The Temple has been referred to in the (only recorded)&nbsp;Sangam period&nbsp;of&nbsp;literature&nbsp;several times.&nbsp;Many conventional historians and scholars are of the opinion that one of the names that the Temple had, &quot;The Golden Temple&quot;, literally was in cognizance of the fact that the Temple was already unimaginably wealthy by that point

&nbsp;Many extant pieces of Sangam Tamil literature and poetry as well as later works of the 9th century of Tamil poet-saints like&nbsp;Nammalwar&nbsp;refer to the temple and the city as having walls of pure gold.

&nbsp;At some places, both the temple and the entire city are often eulogised as being made of gold, and the temple as heaven.

The temple is one of the 108 principal&nbsp;Divya Desams&nbsp;(&quot;Holy Abodes&quot;) in&nbsp;Vaishnavism&nbsp;according to existing&nbsp;Tamil&nbsp;hymns from the seventh and eighth centuries C.E and is glorified in the&nbsp;Divya Prabandha. The&nbsp;Divya Prabandha&nbsp;glorifies this shrine as being among the 13&nbsp;Divya Desam&nbsp;in Malai Nadu (corresponding to present-day Kerala with Kanyakumari District).

&nbsp;The 8th century Tamil poet Alvar&nbsp;Nammalvar&nbsp;sang the glories of the Padmanabha.

Across the world, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is&nbsp;renowned for its beauty and grandeur. Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, it is one of the 108 sacred Vishnu temples or &#39;Divya Deshams&#39; in India. The great King of Travancore, Marthanda Varma is said to have done the renovation work that we see today.Dedicated to Lord Padmanabhaya, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, the famous Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is one of the most popular shrines in India.

The shrine is also mentioned in the Mahabharata, according to experts.&nbsp;The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the state Kerala, India. The name of the city of &#39;Thiruvananthapuram&#39; in Tamil and Malayalam translates to &quot;The City of Lord Ananta&quot;, referring to the main deity of the temple.

The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the&nbsp;Chera style&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dravidian style&nbsp;of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century&nbsp;gopura.&nbsp;While the&nbsp;Ananthapura temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kumbla&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kasaragod district&nbsp;in Kerala is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity (&quot;Moolasthanam&quot;), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the&nbsp;Adikesava Perumal temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Thiruvattar&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kanyakumari district&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu.

The principal deity Padmanabhaswamy (Vishnu) is enshrined in the &quot;Anantha Shayana&quot; posture, the eternal&nbsp;yogic sleep&nbsp;on the infinite&nbsp;serpent Adi Shesha.&nbsp;Padmanabhaswamy is the&nbsp;tutelary deity&nbsp;of the&nbsp;royal family of Travancore. The titular&nbsp;Maharaja of Travancore,&nbsp;Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, is the current trustee of the temple.

Several extant Hindu Texts like the&nbsp;Vishnu Purana,&nbsp;Brahma Purana,&nbsp;Matsya Purana,&nbsp;Varaha Purana,&nbsp;Skanda Purana, Padma Purana, Vayu Purana,&nbsp;Bhagavata Purana&nbsp;etc. mention the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.&nbsp;The Temple has been referred to in the (only recorded)&nbsp;Sangam period&nbsp;of&nbsp;literature&nbsp;several times.Many conventional historians and scholars are of the opinion that one of the names that the Temple had, &quot;The Golden Temple&quot;, literally was in cognizance of the fact that the Temple was already unimaginably wealthy by that point.

Many extant pieces of Sangam Tamil literature and poetry as well as later works of the 9th century of Tamil poet-saints like&nbsp;Nammalwar&nbsp;refer to the temple and the city as having walls of pure gold.

At some places, both the temple and the entire city are often eulogised as being made of gold, and the temple as heaven.

&nbsp;

Puranam

&nbsp;

It is believed that&nbsp;Parasurama&nbsp;purified and venerated the idol of Sree Padmanabhaswamy in&nbsp;Dvapara Yuga. Parasurama entrusted &#39;Kshethra karyam&#39; (Administration of the Temple) with seven Potti families &ndash; Koopakkara Potti, Vanchiyoor Athiyara Potti, Kollur Athiyara Potti, Muttavila Potti, Karuva Potti, Neythasseri Potti and Sreekaryathu Potti. King Adithya Vikrama of Vanchi (Venad) was directed by Parasurama to do &#39;Paripalanam&#39; (Protection) of the Temple. Parasurama gave the Tantram of the Temple to Tharananallur Namboothiripad. This legend is narrated in detail in &#39;Kerala Mahathmyam&#39; which forms part of &#39;Brahmanda Puranam&#39;.

Another version regarding the consecration of the Main Idol of the Temple relates to the legendary sage Vilvamangalathu Swamiyar. Swamiyar, who resided near&nbsp;Ananthapuram Temple&nbsp;in Kasaragod District, prayed to Lord Vishnu for his&nbsp;darshan&nbsp;or &quot;auspicious sight&quot;. The Lord is believed to have come in the guise of a little boy who was mischievous. The boy defiled the Idol which was kept for Puja.

The sage became enraged at this and chased away the boy who disappeared before him. Realizing the boy was no ordinary mortal, the sage wept for forgiveness and asked for another darshan as a sign. He heard a voice say &quot;If you want to see me come to the Anathavana (the unending forest or Ananthakadu). After a long search, when he was walking on the banks of&nbsp;Laccadive Sea, he heard a&nbsp;pulaya&nbsp;lady warning her child that she would throw him in Ananthankadu. The moment the Swami heard the word Ananthankadu he was delighted. He proceeded to Ananthankadu based on the directions of the lady of whom he enquired.

The Sage reached Ananthankadu searching for the boy. There he saw the boy merging into an Iluppa tree (Indian Butter Tree). The tree fell down and became Anantha Sayana Moorti (Vishnu reclining on the celestial snake&nbsp;Anantha). But the edifice that the Lord assumed was of an extraordinarily large size, with His head at&nbsp;Thiruvattar&nbsp;near&nbsp;Thuckalay,&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, Body or Udal at Thiruvananthapuram, and lotus-feet at Thrippadapuram near&nbsp;Kulathoor&nbsp;and&nbsp;Technopark&nbsp;(Thrippappur), making him some eight miles in length. The Sage requested the Lord to shrink to a smaller proportion that would be thrice the length of his staff.

Immediately the Lord shrank to the form of the Idol that is seen at present in the Temple. But even then many Iluppa trees obstructed a complete vision of the Lord. The Sage saw the Lord in three parts &ndash; thirumukham, thiruvudal and thrippadam. Swami prayed to Padmanabha to be forgiven. The Swami offered Rice Kanji and Uppumanga (salted mango pieces) in a coconut shell to the Perumal which he obtained from the pulaya woman. The spot where the Sage had darsan of the Lord belonged to Koopakkara Potti and Karuva Potti. With the assistance of the reigning King and some Brahmin households a Temple was constructed.

&nbsp;The Ananthankadu Nagaraja Temple still exists to the north west of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The Samadhi (final resting place) of the Swamiyar exists to the west of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. A Krishna Temple was built over the Samadhi. This Temple, known as Vilvamangalam Sri Krishna Swami Temple, belongs to Thrissur&nbsp;Naduvil Madhom.

Mukilan, a Muslim marauder, invaded vast chunks of Venad in 1680 AD.He destroyed Budhapuram Bhaktadasa Perumal Temple owned by Neythasseri Potti. Mukilan had plans to plunder the vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and destroy it. But he was dissuaded from doing so by local Muslims loyal to the Royals of Venad. Padmanabhan Thampi, arch rival of Anizhom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, marched to Thiruvananthapuram with his forces and tried to loot the vaults of the Temple. Thampi stayed at Sri Varaham and sent his mercenaries to Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

It is said that divine serpents materialised in hundreds and scared away Thampi&#39;s men. Emboldened by this heavenly intervention,&nbsp;Pallichal Pillai&nbsp;and local people opposed Padmanabhan Thampi and ensured that the mercenaries did not proceed with the misadventure.

In the first half of the 18th century, in line with&nbsp;matrilineal customs, Anizham Thirunal&nbsp;Marthanda Varma, succeeded his uncle Rama Varma as king at the age of 23. He successfully suppressed the 700-year-old stranglehold of the&nbsp;Ettuveetil Pillamar&nbsp;(&quot;Lords of the Eight Houses&quot;) and his cousins following the discovery of conspiracies which the lords were involved in against the royal house of Travancore (There are various legends and disputes about these mostly apocryphal stories but overall he took control and centralised the rule). The last major renovation of the Padmanabhaswamy temple commenced immediately after Anizham Thirunal&#39;s accession to the musnud and the idol was reconsecrated in 906&nbsp;ME&nbsp;(1731 CE). On 17 January 1750, Anizham Thirunal surrendered the&nbsp;Kingdom of Travancore&nbsp;to Padmanabhaswamy, the main deity at the temple, and pledged that he and his descendants would be vassals or agents of the deity who would serve the kingdom as&nbsp;Padmanabha Dasa.[5]&nbsp;Since then, the name of every Travancore king was preceded by the title &#39;Sree Padmanabha Dasa&#39;; the female members of the royal family were called &#39;Sree Padmanabha Sevinis&#39; both meaning the servant to Padmanabhaswamy; . The donation of the king to Padmanabhaswamy was known as Thrippadi-danam. The final wishes of Anizham Thirunal on his passing at the age of 53 clearly delineated the historical relationship between the Maharaja and the temple: &quot;That no deviation whatsoever should be made in regard to the dedication of the kingdom to Padmanabhaswamy and that all future territorial acquisitions should be made over to the Devaswom.&quot;

Varnam

&nbsp;

In the&nbsp;Garbhagriha, Padmanabha reclines on the serpent&nbsp;Anantha&nbsp;or&nbsp;Adi Sesha.The serpent has five hoods facing inwards, signifying contemplation. The Lord&#39;s right hand is placed over a&nbsp;Shiva&nbsp;lingam. Sridevi-Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity and&nbsp;Bhudevi&nbsp;the Goddess of Earth, two consorts of Vishnu are by his side.&nbsp;Brahma&nbsp;emerges on a lotus, which emanates from the navel of the Lord. The deity is made from 12,008&nbsp;saligramams.&nbsp;These saligrams are from the banks of the&nbsp;Gandaki River&nbsp;in&nbsp;Nepal, and to commemorate this, certain rituals used to be performed at the&nbsp;Pashupatinath Temple.

The deity of Padmanabha is covered with, &quot;Katusarkara yogam&quot;, a special ayurvedic mix which is made of 108 natural materials collected from all over India and forms a coat-like protection that keeps the deity clean. The daily worship is with flowers and for the abhishekam, special deities are used.

The platforms in front of the&nbsp;vimanam&nbsp;and where the deity rests are both carved out of a single massive stone and hence called &quot;Ottakkal-mandapam&quot;. On the orders of&nbsp;Marthanda Varma&nbsp;(1706&ndash;58), the Ottakkal-mandapam was cut out of a rock at Thirumala, about 4 miles (6.4&nbsp;km) north of the temple. It measured 20 square feet (1.9&nbsp;m2; 190&nbsp;dm2; 19,000&nbsp;cm2) in area by 2.5 feet (30&nbsp;in; 7.6&nbsp;dm; 76&nbsp;cm) thick and was placed in front of the deity in the month of Edavom 906 M.E. (1731 CE). At the same time, Marthanda Varma also brought 12,000&nbsp;shaligrams,&nbsp;aniconic&nbsp;representations of&nbsp;Vishnu, from the&nbsp;Gandaki River, north of Benares (now known as&nbsp;Varanasi) to the temple. These were used in the reconsecration of the Padmanabha.

In order to perform&nbsp;darshan&nbsp;and&nbsp;puja, one has to ascend to the&nbsp;mandapam. The deity is visible through three doors &ndash; the visage of the reclining Lord and Siva Linga underneath his hand is seen through the first door; Sridevi and Bhrigu Muni in Katusarkara, Brahma seated on a lotus emanating from the Lord&#39;s navel, hence the name, &quot;Padmanabha&quot;, gold abhisheka moorthies of Padmanabha, Sridevi and Bhudevi, and silver utsava moorthi of Padmanabha through the second door; the Lord&#39;s feet, and Bhudevi and Markandeya Muni in Katusarkara through the third door.

The idols of two goddesses holding chamaram,&nbsp;Garuda,&nbsp;Narada,&nbsp;Tumburu, the divine forms of the six weapons of Vishnu,&nbsp;Surya,&nbsp;Chandra, the&nbsp;Saptarshi, Madhu, and Kaitabha are also in the Sanctum. Only the King of Travancore may prostrate on the &quot;Ottakkal Mandapam&quot; It is traditionally held that anybody who prostrates on the mandapam has surrendered all that he possesses to the Deity. Since the ruler has already done that, he is permitted to prostrate on this mandapam.

Inside the Temple, there are two other important shrines, Thekkedom and Thiruvambadi, for the Deities,&nbsp;Ugra Narasimha&nbsp;and&nbsp;Krishna&nbsp;Swami respectively.

Centuries back, several families of&nbsp;Vrishni&nbsp;Kshatriyas travelled to the south carrying with them idols of Lord&nbsp;Balarama&nbsp;and Lord&nbsp;Krishna. When they reached the hallowed land of Sree Padmanabha they gave the idol of Balarama, also known as Bhaktadasa, to Neythasseri Potti. Neythasseri Potti built a Temple at Budhapuram in the present day Kanyakumari District and had this idol installed there. The Vrishnis gifted the idol of Krishna to Maharaja Udaya Marthanda Varma of Venad. The Maharaja constructed a separate shrine, known as Thiruvambadi, in the premises of Padmanabhaswamy Temple for this idol. The Thiruvambadi shrine enjoys an independent status. Thiruvambadi has its own namaskara mandapam, bali stones and flagmast. The Lord of Thiruvambadi is Parthasarathi, the Divine Charioteer of&nbsp;Arjuna&nbsp;who is the warrior prince and one of the main protagonist appears in the story of&nbsp;Mahabharata. The two-armed granite idol, with one hand holding the whip and the other resting on the left thigh holding the conch close to it, is in standing posture. On&nbsp;Ekadasi&nbsp;days, the Lord is dressed and decorated as&nbsp;Mohini. The Vrishnies who came to Venad and settled there are known as Krishnan vakakkar as they belong to the lineage of Lord Krishna.

There are also shrines for Lord&nbsp;Rama&nbsp;accompanied by his consort&nbsp;Sita, brother&nbsp;Lakshmana&nbsp;and&nbsp;Hanuman, Vishwaksena (the Nirmalyadhari of Vishnu and Remover of Obstacles),&nbsp;Vyasa&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ashwatthama&nbsp;the&nbsp;Chiranjivis,&nbsp;Ganapati,&nbsp;Sasta, and Kshetrapala (who guards the temple). Grand idols of&nbsp;Garuda&nbsp;and&nbsp;Hanuman&nbsp;stand with folded hands in the Valiya balikkal area.The thevara idols of&nbsp;Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma&nbsp;and&nbsp;Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma&nbsp;are housed in the south east part of the Temple

The foundation of the present&nbsp;gopuram&nbsp;was laid in 1566.The temple has a 100-foot (30&nbsp;m),&nbsp;7-tier gopuram made in the&nbsp;Pandyan&nbsp;style.&nbsp;The temple stands by the side of a&nbsp;tank, named&nbsp;Padma Theertham&nbsp;(meaning the lotus spring). The temple has a corridor with 365 and one-quarter sculptured granite-stone pillars with elaborate carvings which stands out to be an ultimate testimonial for the&nbsp;Vishwakarma&nbsp;sthapathis in sculpting this architectural masterpiece. This corridor extends from the eastern side into the sanctum sanctorum. An 80-foot (24&nbsp;m) flagstaff stands in front of the main entry from the&nbsp;prakaram(closed precincts of a temple).

The ground floor under the gopuram (main entrance in the eastern side) is known as the &#39;Nataka Sala&#39; where the famous temple art&nbsp;Kathakali&nbsp;was staged in the night during the ten-day&nbsp;uthsavam&nbsp;(festival) conducted twice a year, during the&nbsp;Malayalam months&nbsp;of Meenam and Thulam

Hidden treasure worth billions of dollars discovered in Indian temple

According to news reports some of the items found include:

A 4-foot (1.2&nbsp;m) high and 3-foot (0.91&nbsp;m) wide solid pure-golden&nbsp;idol&nbsp;of&nbsp;Mahavishnu&nbsp;studded with&nbsp;diamonds&nbsp;and other fully precious stones. 
A solid pure-golden throne, studded with hundreds of diamonds and precious stones, meant for the 18-foot (5.5&nbsp;m) idol of deity 
Ceremonial attire for adorning the deity in the form of 16-part gold&nbsp;anki&nbsp;weighing almost 30 kilograms (66&nbsp;lb) 
An 18-foot (5.5&nbsp;m) long pure-gold chain among thousands of pure-gold chains 
A pure-gold sheaf weighing 500 kilograms (1,100&nbsp;lb) 
A 36-kilogram (79&nbsp;lb) golden veil 
1200 &#39;Sarappalli&#39; pure-gold coin-chains encrusted with precious stones weighing between 3.5 kg and 10.5 kg 
Several sacks filled with golden artifacts, necklaces, diadems, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, gemstones, and objects made of other precious metals 
Gold coconut shells studded with rubies and emeralds 
Several 18th-century Napoleonic-era coins 
Hundreds of thousands of gold coins of the&nbsp;Roman Empire 
An 800-kilogram (1,800&nbsp;lb) hoard of gold coins dating to the medieval period 
According to varying reports, at least three if not many more, solid gold crowns all studded with diamonds and other precious stones and pots of gold. While the above list is on the basis of news reports describing the July 2011 opening (and later) of Vaults A, C, D, E and F, a 1930s report from&nbsp;The Hindu&nbsp;mentions a granary-sized structure (within either Vault C or Vault D or Vault E or Vault F) almost filled with mostly gold and some silver coins.

The valuables have been accumulated in the temple over several thousands of years, having been donated to the Deity, and subsequently stored in the Temple, by various Dynasties, such as the&nbsp;Cheras, the&nbsp;Pandyas, the&nbsp;Travancore royal family, the&nbsp;Kolathiris, the&nbsp;Pallavas, the&nbsp;Cholas, and many other Kings in the recorded history of both South India and beyond

Most scholars believe that this was accumulated over thousands of years, given the mention of the Deity and the Temple in several extant Hindu Texts, the Sangam literature (500 BC to 300 AD wherein it was referred to as the &quot;Golden Temple&quot; on account of its then unimaginable wealth), and the treasures consist of countless artifacts dating back to the Chera, Pandya, and Greek and Roman epochs. The ancient epic&nbsp;Silappatikaram&nbsp;(circa 100 AD to 300 AD) speaks of the then Chera King Cenkuttuvan receiving gifts of gold and precious stones from a certain &#39;Golden Temple&#39; (Arituyil-Amardon) which is believed to be the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Gold had been mined as well as panned from rivers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, Wayanad, Kollam, Palakkad and Malappuram districts for thousands of years. The Malabar region had several centers of trade and commerce since the Sumerian Period ranging from Vizhinjam in the South to Mangalore in the North. Also, at times like the invasion by&nbsp;Mysore, the other royal families like the Kolathiris (a branch of the Thiruvithamkur Royal Family - both originating in the Thiruvananthapuram area) in the then Kerala and the Far-South took refuge in Thiruvananthapuram, and stored their temple-wealth there for safekeeping in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Also, much of the treasures housed in the much larger and as-yet-unopened vaults, as well as in the much smaller cellars that have been opened, date back to long before the institution of the so-called Travancore Kingdom, e.g. the 800-kg hoard of gold coins from 200 B.C that was mentioned by&nbsp;Vinod Rai. Noted archaeologist and historian&nbsp;R. Nagaswamy&nbsp;has also stated that several records exist in Kerala, of offerings made to the Deity, from several parts of Kerala

During the reign of Maharani&nbsp;Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, hundreds of temples were brought under the Government. The ornaments in these temples were also transferred to the Vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Instead the funds of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple were utilised for the daily upkeep of these temples.

From 1766 until 1792, Travancore also provided refuge to around a dozen other Hindu rulers who had fled their own princely states along the&nbsp;Malabar Coast, due to fears of possible military defeat by&nbsp;Kingdom of Mysore. They came with whatever valuables they had in their temples and donated them to Lord Padmanabha. Many of these rulers, and their extended family members, also left their wealth with Lord Padmanabha, when they finally returned home following Tipu Sultan&#39;s military defeat by British forces, in 1792.

There are over 3000 surviving bundles of &#39;Cadjan&#39; leaves (records) in Archaic Malayalam and Tamil, each bundle consisting of a hundred-thousand leaves, which relate to donations of gold and precious stones made exclusively to the temple over the millennia. Most of these are yet to have been studied and very few have even been glanced at yet.

As these pertain exclusively to the donations made over millennia they would throw a lot of light on the story of the treasure. Lastly, it has to be remembered that in the period of the Travancore Kingdom, a distinction was always made between the Government (or State) Treasury (Karuvoolam) and the Royal Treasury (Chellam) and the Temple Treasury (Thiruvara Bhandaram or Sri Bhandaram).

&nbsp;

Highlights

Fact 1:&nbsp;The otherwise sacred and simple looking temple has underground chambers, deep inside the surface which have treasures in them.

Fact 2:&nbsp;There are in total six vaults in the temple which were totally secured and were taken care of by the royal Travancore family.

Fact 3:&nbsp;The treasure in the vaults is being accumulated for thousands of years literally and dates back to 200 B.C.

Fact 4:&nbsp;The six vaults of the temple are named as the alphabetical letters from A to F. Vault C to F had been opened earlier and a tremendous amount of treasure found in them.

Fact 5:&nbsp;It was said that vault A and F cannot be opened since they have a curse laid on them but later, the Supreme Court gave orders in 2011 to open vault A.

Fact 6:&nbsp;The total value accounted for all the treasure found till the present time is around $18 billion, which is more than the wealth of Mughals, Nizam of Hyderabad, and the British crown jewels all combined together.

Fact 7:&nbsp;The vault B was also opened but there was a snake door to it that had no joints or bolts. Priests have given warnings not to open it as it can cause serious troubles to the people of Kerala and the caretaker&rsquo;s family as the vault is cursed.

Fact 8:&nbsp;It is estimated that if Vault B gets opened, the total estimated amount of treasure would be around $1 trillion.

Fact 9:&nbsp;The treasure found until now contains gold chairs, pots, jars, crowns, a large thrown completely made of gold and studded with hundreds of diamonds and precious gems. There are bundles of gold coins weighing 800 kilos approximately, and each coin has an estimated value of 2.5 crores at least. There is a gold chain that is 8 feet long and coins from the era of Napoleon and Romans. The treasure does not end here, it has around 1200 chains of gold and precious stones, sacks full of ancient artefacts, gems, necklaces, coconut shells, a gold sheaf of 500 kilos and a gold idol of Mahavishnu studded with diamonds with a height of 3 and a half feet.

Sevas/Festivals

There are many festivals associated with this temple. The major festivals are bi-annual. The&nbsp;Aipasi&nbsp;festival and the&nbsp;Panguni&nbsp;festival in the&nbsp;Tamil&nbsp;month of&nbsp;aipasi&nbsp;(October/November) and&nbsp;Panguni&nbsp;(March/April) respectively, lasts for 10 days each. On the ninth day the Maharajah of the Travancore, in his capacity as Thrippappoor Mooppan, escorts the deities to the vettakkalam for Pallivetta. Centuries back, the Pallivetta procession was said to pass through Kaithamukku, Kuthiravattom (Kunnumpuram),&nbsp;Pazhaya Sreekanteswaram&nbsp;and Putharikkandam.

The festivals culminate with the&nbsp;Aarat&nbsp;(holy bath) procession to the&nbsp;Shankumugham Beach. The word&nbsp;Aarat&nbsp;refers to the purificatory immersion of the deities of the temple in sea. This event takes place in the evening. The Maharajah of Travancore escorts the&nbsp;Aarat&nbsp;procession on foot. The festival idols &quot;Utsava Vigrahas&quot; of Padmanabhaswamy, Narasimha Moorthi and Krishna Swami are given a ritual bath in the sea, after the prescribed&nbsp;pujas. After this ceremony, the idols are taken back to the temple in a procession that is lit by traditional torches, marking the conclusion of the festival.

A major annual festival related to Padmanabhaswamy temple is the&nbsp;Navaratri&nbsp;festival. The idols of&nbsp;Saraswati&nbsp;Amman, Mun Uditha Nangai (Parasakti, who appeared before&nbsp;Saraswati,&nbsp;Lakshmi&nbsp;and&nbsp;Parvati&nbsp;to help them identify their husbands who had been transformed into infants by the power of chastity of&nbsp;Anasuya) and Kumara Swami (Murugan) are brought from the&nbsp;Padmanabhapuram Palace,&nbsp;Suchindram, and&nbsp;Kumarakovil&nbsp;respectively to the&nbsp;Kuthira malika&nbsp;palace in front of Padmanabhaswamy temple as a procession

. This festival lasts for 9 days. The famous&nbsp;Swathi Sangeethotsavam&nbsp;music festival is held every year during this festival in the&nbsp;Navratri&nbsp;mandapam and in some other surrounding temples. The festival was named in honour of the Maharajah of Travancore,&nbsp;Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma&nbsp;and is organized by his descendant in the Royal Family,&nbsp;Prince Rama Varma.

Big idol of&nbsp;Pandava&nbsp;displayed during Panguni festival

The biggest festival in this temple is&nbsp;laksha deepam, which means hundred thousand (or one&nbsp;lakh) lamps. This festival is unique and commences once in 6 years. Prior to this festival, chanting of prayers and recitation of three&nbsp;vedas&nbsp;is done for 56 days (Murajapam). On the last day, hundred thousand oil lamps are lit in and around the temple premises.

<h3>Dress Code:</h3>

Hindus are only permitted into the temple.

Dress Codes are to be strictly followed in the temple before entering.

For Men &ndash;&nbsp; Should wear &lsquo;Dhoti&rsquo; or &lsquo;Mundu&rsquo;

Should not wear a t-shirt or shirt above the waist.

For Women &ndash; Should wear &lsquo;Saree&rsquo;,&nbsp; Set &ndash; Mundu/ Mundu Neriyathum, skirt and blouse else Half saree.

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