The Travancore Palace is yet to officially comment on the dazzling treasure inventory but it’s learnt that the family scion, Marthanda Varma Uthradom Tirunal, is pleased with the attempt to estimate the wealth.
Sources said Uthradom Tirunal had entrusted a key aide to document the treasures. For a month, the aide photographed the treasures when the lawyer, Sundararaja Iyengar, filed a petition in the district court, demanding the preparation of an inventory.
The staff union at the temple had opposed the documentation, citing temple customs.
But the royal counsel pointed out that the bar applied only to idols and not other items. The documentation had to be called off in the mêlée and the photographer had not even reached the treasure Vaults, A and B, by then.
The ageing Marthanda Varma has confided in his close aides that he is much relieved at the inventory preparation because treasure would remain intact and nobody, not even those closely associated with the temple now and for all time, would covet the divine treasure.
Sources say the idea of a documentation was mooted by an inner loyal circle and it was readily accepted by Uthradom Tirunanl, who is a history graduate, with a keen eye for detail.