Introduction
Lord Vishnu is honored at Thiruvananthapuram's Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. While the temple's origins are thought to be "lost in antiquity," the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple is mentioned in ancient manuscripts such as Sangam Tamil literature. Unlike other temples in Kerala, Sree Padmanabha Swamy and its assets were handled by a trust controlled by the Travancore Royal Family.
1. The Curse
The Supreme Court's first judgment on the temple's wealth came after counsel TP Sunder Rajan filed a writ case in a Kerala court. Sunder Rajan died in July of 2011. Many people saw Sunder Rajan's untimely death as a divine retaliation. Many people felt that unlocking the vault without performing the required puja would bring the curse onto them. The rumors were bolstered by the death of one of the observers' mothers and the injury of another observer's leg. Elderly locals in and around the temple also recalled hearing stories about how opening the B-vault would cause a deluge according to the Ocean idea.
2. Snake God Theory
The engravings on the vault's door, which resemble a giant cobra and are thought to depict the temple god Lord Vishnu's place of rest, are said to be the source of most of the superstitious beliefs surrounding the B-vault. The door is thus guarded by the snake-god and can only be opened by sadhus singing the ‘Garuda Mantra,' the only problem is that there was no such sadhu in India. Experts in Hindu mythology predicted that if the vault were unlocked via artificial means, disasters would ensue.
3. Ocean Theory
Faced with a severe famine a century ago, temple officials attempted to burst open the chamber but were halted when they heard what sounded like rushing water. The tale went on to say that the vault was connected to the Arabian Sea and that if it were opened, the entire city would be flooded.
4. Vaasthu
'It's best if we keep the B vault locked.' The treasures kept in the vault beneath the deity's head are safeguarded by tantric experts who tame micro-natural forces to ensure their safety. If somebody tries to enter that vault, it will cause a slew of problems,” Vaasthu specialist K Muraleedharan Nair had said at the time.
5. Rai’s recommendations
The wealth management audit committee was formed in 2015 in response to a Supreme Court order to investigate potential irregularities in the temple administration's operations. The SC ruling followed amicus curiae and prominent counsel Gopal Subramaniam's recommendations in 2014, which requested a fundamental revamp of the said administration. The full audit report, which is believed to be in five parts totaling 1000 pages bound into two volumes and covering the years 2004-2014, reiterates that the temple wealth auditing procedure was opaque. Rai also draws attention to the ‘abnormal' rise in temple spending and has outlined tight accounting and record-keeping procedures in minute detail for the future.
He has also suggested that an administrative committee be formed, consisting of a retired IAS officer, a representative from the Travancore royal family and the Devaswom Board, the tantri (chief priest) of the temple, two prominent devotee-citizens, and an executive officer appointed by the Kerala government for a three-year term. This committee would be in charge of preparing and approving the temple's annual budget and overseeing and being held accountable for all temple activities.
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