Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple

[Perfection]

Temple Security

Cheif Minister Sri Oommen Chandy ensured the Security of the treasure will be the responsibility of the State. Kerala Police has arranged a three level security for the safety of the treasure found using Surveillance CCTV Cameras, Vibration sensors, LASER equipments and a group of trained armed personnel, Special Armed Police. High level possible security arrangements are planned by the State Government of Kerala for the temple treasure.

Police has recommended bomb blast proof steel/concrete chambers for keeping the treasure.



The pilgrims visiting the temple has been increased drastically due to the wide media publicity.

[minisoji]

British suspected Bose sojourned in Padmanabhaswamy temple


The Sree Padmanabh a Swamy temple here, now in the limelight for the huge treasures discovere d in its vaults, was once closely monitored at the behest of the British rulers who suspected freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose lived there secretly for a while, according to a little known archival record.

The temple was brought under surveilla nce after an anonymous letter came to the attention of a senior British official in Madras (Chennai), the Southern headquart ers of the British administr ation in pre-independence India. The letter claimed that Bose, who travelled abroad in 1941 to muster support for his anti-British struggle, returned to the country secretly and lived in disguise in the temple premises in the princely state of Travancor e.

According to a docket in the Kerala State Archives, on seeing the letter, the then British Resident for the Madras State, Lieutenan t Colonel G P Murphy, forwarded a copy of it to Dewan of Travancor e Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer requestin g to "closely watch" the area around the grand temple.

The request was immediate ly complied with but no clue whatsoeve r of the possible visit of the Netaji, as Bose is endearing ly called by his followers and admirers, was found around the temple complex. The letter, received by British officials in Calcutta and passed on to Murphy, said "Bose is in the near vicinity of Sree Anantha Padmanabh a of Travancor e and still further in the Rameswara m side..It then continued 'he (Bose) has gone to find out the truth of Lord Sree Krishna’s teaching.'"

Murphy’s Demi-Official communication, dated February 23, 1941, quoting excerpts from the anonymous letter, was followed by some correspondences between him and Iyer on the matter, which showed how seriously the British rulers took the disappearance of Bose and his possible return to India as a far more dangerous revolutionary.


All the attempts to trace him in India have so far been not fruitful and it is still being alleged that he has gone abroad probably to secure funds with a view to organisin g in India a mass revolutio nary movement which would require considera ble funds."

That the British rulers took the matter very seriously was clear from Murphy’s words that "Bose is not unlikely to return to India (as) a very much more dangerous person than he was at the time of his departure ." He also feared that Bose might return through any of the ports in the state of Travancor e. Iyer closely followed each letter and forwarded copies to the Inspector General of Police of Travancor e to be promptly acted upon and apprised the British official of that. On March 31, 1941, Iyer wrote to Murphy that all steps had been taken for a "close watch for Bose’s (probable) arrival in the state." Though the police in the princely state searched thoroughl y all the suspected spots, including the cluster of houses where Brahmins live in close vicinity to the temple, nothing came out to substanti ate the British fears.