A case against nationalisation

  
The news of discovery of a large treasure trove within the confines of  Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum is making waves. This discovery must be the third such discovery that i remember in my life so far. Meivazhi Salai near Pudukkottai and Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur were the others that i have read about when i was young. The latter was later denied and buried as a non-event.  Maybe i was too young to even evaluate what was the truth or if at all such a treasure-hunt happened during those times. I tried a Google-search but could not find details. Have they been removed from records? Possible. Also vaguely remember some controversies around these discoveries. So just no idea what happened to those 'catches'.

An incident comes to mind. During childhood, we used to go to our ancestral home. One day we climbed onto the attic in the house where among cobwebs and thick patina and dust lay some large trunks and photos. The photos were actually framed images of all the Goddesses that we commonly worship and these were actually made of pure silver. These were probably bequeathed across generations and there was no one to vouch for their origin. The boxes had unbreakable locks. We therefore left them as they did not have any value to qualify as a plaything in our hands. We  must have seen them for a few more years during our annual vacations. They lay unattended and uncared for. 

In my wicked mood i would imagine some great grandfather being a usurious money lender and for small defaults, must have taken possession of these gold and silvers. Or, conclude that they must be belonging to a grandmother who walked into this household carrying as dowry these treasure items. Another more dominant possibilty was that as we were the patrons of a nearby temple which was a vestige of the chola dynasty, these precious things may have gotten accumulated.  Years later, the house was demolished to give way for flats. No one has any idea about who took possession of these treasures.

The Trivandrum discovery is just a magnified version of the above story. A great patron as a king, a bigger temple, and a longer period of unattended and uncared for trove. Shashi Tharoor was absolutely correct when he said the Maharaja of Travancore should be the one to decide on what to do with the find.

Let us not conclude: "It is safer to stash it in zurich - India is not safe". (...me and my sarcasm!!)