The Supreme Court of India on Monday upheld the right of a former royal family to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, one of the wealthiest places of worship in the world, after the state government attempted to seize his property after the death of the family patriarch.
When one of the treasures of this sprawling centuries-old Hindu temple was opened in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in 2011, he found it filled with diamonds along with tons of gold coins and jewelry, a treasure valued at more than $ 20 billion.
The Kerala Supreme Court ruled that year that the royal Trafankur family should abandon their guardianship of the temple after the death of its chief, Sri Chhetheira Tyrral Palarma Pharma, who was the last Maharaja of Trafankur since 1991.
However, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling on Monday. Many Hindu temples in India have fortunes worth billions of dollars, as donors give gold and other precious gifts.
The Supreme Court said that a new committee would be formed by the royal family to administer the temple, which has a height of seven floors, and that it will be entitled to decide what to do with the temple’s wealth, including the contents of another old cellar that has not yet been opened.