Documentation of temple treasure could take time: Travancore ex-royals

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 9 (IANS) The documentation of the treasure unearthed at the famed Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple last year could take a very long time according to Travancore's erstwhile royal family, the temple's current custodian.

'The bigger items could easily be documented and valued but when it comes to smaller things, the process could well be delayed for a long time. There was a trial run of the documentation process and was overseen by the apex court appointed committee,' a source in the family told IANS.

The apex court committee headed by M.V. Nair inspected the equipment that arrived from the Indian Space Research Organisation and the state-owned KELTRON.

The official documentation process will begin Feb 20, Nair told reporters here.

The temple has six vaults, of which five vaults were opened based on a petition filed by a former IPS official T.P.Sunderarajan last July.

When the vault was reopened after 150 years, a supreme court appointed committee stumbled upon the treasure from vault A worth more than Rs.1 lakh crore, making it one of the richest temples in the world.