TRIVANDRUM, February21 2012: he final inventory of the treasures hidden in the secret vaults of the 16th Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala resumed here on Monday amid high security.The treasures concealed in five of the six vaults were unearthed by a seven-member panel of observers appointed by the apex court in June last year following a dispute over the control of the temple and its wealth administered by a trust floated by the erstwhile Travancore royal family. The sixth vault, which is believed to contain several priceless treasures, will remain closed until the contents of the first five are digitised. The inventorisation of the treasures, which include a vast collection of diamonds, rubies, precious stones, gold and silver jewellery, unofficially estimated at Rs1 trillion, was suspended by the apex court to ensure security to the treasures already unearthed. The ten-member panel headed by noted conservationist M V Nair will not be valuing the articles. Nair told reporters before entering the temple that they had no mandate from the court to do the valuation. This will be decided by the court later. The articles will be categorised and digitised in such a manner that their monetary value could be assessed any time in future. The committee will be using a specially developed device for Digital Archiving of Temple Antiques and Artifacts (DATA). The device developed by the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation comprise machines to bar or laser code, weigh and test for purity and grade and package the articles. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has provided a laser engraving machine since religious artifacts regularly used cannot be bar-coded. The items will be photographed using 2D and 3D camera. Two photography experts will photograph each item from different angles. After the documentation, the articles will be packed in natural yarn and put in a pouch and bar-coded and put back in the vault. The expert panel headed by noted conservationist M V Nair will be initially preparing inventory of the articles in four vaults and categorize them under three heads-articles of historical, artistic and antique value, those which are of regular use, and those which are of monetary value only. “We will start with vaults E and F. We will go to the Supreme Court for permission to open vault C as it has been sealed by a local court recently. The court will be hearing the case on February 23,” Nair told reporters before entering the temple. The panel will conduct a review after examining every 100 articles. Each article will require 15 to 20 minutes for documentation. He said they were not in a position to say how long it will take to complete the entire process. The expert panel has epigraphists, gemologists and numismatists from a panel approved by the court to assist them. M N Krishnan, who heads the panel appointed by the apex court to supervise the process, said that inventorisation will be done without hindering the day-to-day rituals in the temple. “We will be taking the articles from the vaults by following the temple rituals and put them back ritualistically. We are not entitled to reveal any details to the media at this point of time,” he added. The members can enter the temple dressed only in traditional Kerala mundu with a shawl draped over their shoulders. The inventory takers will have to do their job standing, as no one is allowed to sit before the Hindu deity. The inventory taking will be between 9am and 5pm every day. The members are not allowed to handle certain articles. The temple priests will assist them in documenting these articles
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