THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The unexpected death of Advocate T P Sunder Rajan seems to have intensified the demand for holding a ‘Deva Prasnam’ before opening the ‘B vault’ in the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. The demand raised by the Travancore royal family before the Supreme Court found new supporters on Sunday and Monday. ‘’All the property of the temple belongs to Lord Padmanabha. Before touching those assets, we must obtain the permission of the Lord. For that the only way is to conduct a ‘deva prasnam’,’’ said Gopalakrishnan Potty, former ‘Periya Nambi’ of the temple. He said gold was one of the favourite offerings of the Lord and that might be how so much gold and jewels accumulated in the temple. Devotees who know about the preference of the Lord, had placed gold and jewels as their offering on his feet. Vasthu acharya K Muraleedharan Nair, who is the president of Vasthu Sasthra Vigjana Peedam, said it would be better if those who venture out to open the vaults do a rethink. ‘’It is ideal that we keep the B vault locked. The treasures stored in that vault, which is below the Head of the deity, are protected by taming micro natural forces. Tantric experts who kept it safe their might have done this. If one dares to open that vault, it will trigger a series of troubles,’’ warned Nair. ‘’It will be foolish to open the lock of B vault using a gas cutter,’’ he added. Those who listed the bad omens that became visible after the whole episode began said the mother of one of the observers died and the leg of another observer got injured after the operation began. ‘’Everybody in the temple knows this old story of the ill fate of the three persons who ventured to open one of the vaults a few years ago. All of them died within months,’’ said Nair. According to him, the concept of ‘Perumal (the Emperor)’ is what takes Padmanabha Swamy, Tirupathi Venkitachalapathi and Sree Ranganathan to a different league. Emperors are used to be fond of gold and jewels and so do Gods who take the Perumal form. ‘’There is an invaluable treasure of jewels kept inside the Sree Ranga temple in Tamil Nadu. It is an offering by the Chola and Chera kings,’’ said Nair. Same is the case with Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam. There are interesting anecdotes about Lord Padmanabha’s penchant for gold. ‘’One day I placed a new gold ring given by a devotee at the feet of the deity for ‘pooja’. While I was doing ‘pooja’, it disappeared. I frantically searched for it, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I broke down as my integrity would have been questioned by the devotee. I prayed hard and wept on His feet. After some time, the ring came back to the spot where I had originally placed it,’’ said a priest who had earlier served at the temple. Old people around the Fort recall myths such as opening the B vault would prove disastrous as it would trigger a flood. Though rationalists claim that these myths were planted as deterrents to protect the wealth of the temple, believers stick on to them.
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