THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Put that intense desire to know about the secrets in the chambers to rest. For, it would take at least a few more days before the ‘A’ and ‘B’ chambers - the ones which have not been opened for centuries and which claim to house kingly, majestic and nonpareil fortune - inside the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple will be opened and treasures listed. For consolation, the ‘C’ chamber in the temple was opened on Monday and the process of preparing an inventory of the articles inside it began.It is based on a Supreme Court order to prepare an inventory of the precious articles stored inside the six chambers in the temple that the seven-member committee opened its doors on Monday. In the morning, the committee members held a discussion at the end of which it was decided to open the four chambers- from ‘C’ to ‘F’- in the next four days and take a decision on the two mysterious chambers later.On Friday, the committee would meet once again and decide how to go ahead with the work in the two chambers."We have decided to open the ‘C’ chamber first to prepare the inventory. The matter of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ chambers would be taken up on Friday,’’ said Justice M N Krishnan, one among the two observers appointed by the Court to prepare the inventory, before entering the temple on Monday morning.The other members of the committee who entered the chamber on Monday were Justice C S Rajan, another retired High Court judge; Ravi Varma, representative of the Travancore royal family head Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda; second petitioner and executive officer of the temple V K Harikumar; first respondent Adv T P Sundararajan; Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar and Archives Director J Rejikumar.According to an official, the ‘C’ chamber (which is frequently opened to pick up items to be used for festivals or rituals) has a treasure trove of gold items, including golden umbrellas, silver pots, gold pots, gold ‘varpu’, which is used to serve the ‘ratnapayasam’ made for ‘perunthamruthu pooja’ in the temple and golden utensils used for ‘pooja’.Among the gold items, there are the ‘kazhuthu kudam’ (20 numbers), ‘narayam’ (one), ‘khadika thadi (2), ‘thankakuda’ with handle (1), ‘khadika’ pot (340) and ‘kumbheeyam’ (1). The silver items include ‘moola pattika’ (36), ‘nilavilakku’ (30), ‘kindi ‘ (30) , ‘dharakidaram’ (2), ‘uruli’ (3), ‘kudumudi’ (1), ‘narayam’ (1) and ‘kazhuthukootam’ (2).Idols of Shiva, golden serpent forms,chutti,rings and thali have also been collected from the Chambers. Though the actual worth of articles is unclear, the valuables are estimated to be worth Rs 450 crore, according to sources.
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