Mysterious Vault of Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Beaches of Kerala were one of the best experiences I had. Now, to continue my journey I kicked up the bike and started moving towards the Thiruvananthapuram. Varkala beach to Thiruvananthapuram is about 45 Kms of a drive. I chose the same way i.e. Chilakkoor – Vallakkadavu Road like yesterday. After the drive of 1.5 hours, I reached Thiruvananthapuram by 10:30 AM.

Thiruvananthapuram is the capital city of Kerala state. This city is very popular for its Padmanabhaswamy Temple and its mysterious vault. Padmanabhaswamy Temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and it is considered as the richest temple in the world. Padmanabha is Lord Vishnu’s sleeping posture with one Lotus in his navel on Sheshnag (5 headed snake). This temple was established in 18th century by Marthanda Varma, the king of Travancore. After the establishment of this temple, the king dedicated all his wealth to this temple. Today, the administration of this temple is taking care of by the royal family of Travancore king. There is a strict dress code to enter into this temple. Male has to wear a white Dhoti and nothing on the upper body and the female has to wear a white Sari. No other things like mobile phones, wallets, wrist watches etc. are allowed inside the temple. And due to this, I didn’t get the chance to capture the inner part of the temple.

Initially, I had no plan to visit this temple. But when I heard about its mysterious vault, it made me curious to visit this temple. This temple has 8 vaults which are located under 20 feet of this temple. These vaults are named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. Out of this vaults, A, C, D, E, and F vaults were opened in 2011 as per the Supreme court orders. And the committee found highly valuable treasure from these vaults which have a market value of around more than 1,30,000 Cr. This treasure includes diamond jewelry, golden utensils, weapons, golden idols, golden elephants idols and diamond necklaces having 500 kilograms weight and 18 feet length and bags full of golden coins of different nations including Napoleon and Italian coins. And with all this treasure Padmanabhaswamy Temple became the world’s richest temple.

Today the four vaults C, D, E, and F, are in the custody of the temple priests and gets opened eight times every year. And the treasure in these vaults gets used in the temple ceremonies. It is said that G and H vaults were opened in the 18th century and it also had valuables which have been documented at that time. Now the mystery comes for the vault B. Vault B has been never opened till date. The door of vault B is has two big Snake portraits on it. This door has no nuts, nor bolts and neither any latches on it.

Initially, I was curious to see this door, but this vault is underground of the temple and none is allowed to go there except the temple authorities. It is said that this door is sealed by the ‘NAGA BANDHAM‘ mantra, which was sealed by the ‘Siddha Purusha‘ (Siddha Purush is an ascetic who has achieved enlightenment) in the 16th century. Only the ‘Siddha Purusha’ who have knowledge of ‘NAGA BANDHAM’ could open this door by chanting very sacred ‘GARUDA MANTRA‘. If anyone tries to open this door forcefully then he will invite the disaster to this world. It is believed that behind this door exists world’s largest undiscovered treasure.

Today, more than 200 guards are deployed for the protection of this temple. By knowing about the treasure of this temple, we could imagine that why our India used to be called as ‘Sone ki Chidiya‘.

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