$20 billion! Temple's secret vaults yield treasure

Thiruvananthapuram, in India - Investigators plan to question the ultimate treasure hidden deep beneath the centuries of Indian Hindu temple as police guarded around the clock sanctuary, wherebillions of dollars of treasure was discovered.
Last week, seven members of a team of researchers is dividedinto five of the six secret underground vaults filled with stones that lay untouched for hundreds of years.
Spectators and devotees thronged the shrine in the heart of the bustling Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, say officials treasure worth $ 20 billion has beenfound - more than the budget of education in India.
Bags filled with diamonds, arranged next to tons of gold and jewelry, media reported, in the basement of the 16th century SreePadmanabhaswamy temple, the royal chapel of the former rulers ofTravancore, now part of Kerala state.
"The current market value of the items found so far by thecommittee members will be about 900 billion rupees ($ 20.2 billion)," one church official who was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters.

Priceless jewellery 

Investigators searched the vaults for the inventory of wealth because of worry about security, but have no idea about the amount oftreasure that you will find.
Researchers would not disclose the official amount partly due touncertainties related to the valuation of precious jewels and gold coins by weight

The team's search included four-foot high statue of gold studded with emeralds, a 15-meter gold necklaces and jeweled crowns,local media reported.
Police formed a special control room near the temple on Monday,as the state Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has promised full security to the state treasury, and promised that he will remain the property of the temple, once the condition has been made.
"We are ready to protect the wealth of the temple. We will chart themeasures for the permanent security agreement with theTravancore royal family, who now manages the temple and the chiefpriest of the temple," Chandy told reporters.

Story: Treasure worth billions reported in temple

Historians estimate treasure supported values, paying attention to the lucrative trade routes that passed through the region for many centuries. "Entrepreneurs who came from other parts of the country and abroad to buy spices and other raw materials used to produce handsome sacrifice not only the blessing of the deity, but also to be followed by the rulers," said PJ Cherian, director of the Kerala Council for historical research. As the Treasury estimates is worth the increase, growing fierce debate about what to do with the discovery, in a country where 450 million people live in poverty. Hindu community leaders want the wealth to be invested in the temple, and many intellectuals, including former Supreme Court judge Justice VR Krishna Iyer suggests should be used for public good. The Government has announced that it will apply to the Supreme Court found the property of the treasury in the temple, which is still controlled by the royal family in contrast to other temples in Kerala, which are managed by the government. The vaults were searched after the lawyer has asked the country's top court to order the government to take over the temple, because they do not have adequate security. Several temples in India billions of dollars of wealth as followers of devotional gold and other valuable items as gifts, spiritual and religious institutions that operate hospitals, schools and colleges. Tirumala temple in eastern Andhra Pradesh is reported to 6600 pounds of gold, of which one third is composed State Bank of India last year, the spiritual guru, Sai Baba, who died in April, leaving about $ 9 billion of assets. Baba Ramdev yoga guru, who has issued quickly with corruption last month, leading to protests against the government built a $ 40 million-a-year global empire through yoga and other spiritual products and services. 

The great treasure was found in a Hindu temple in southern India -gold and silver jewelry, coins and jewels worth billions of dollars,Indian officials said on Saturday.
AFP news agency quoted Kerala's first Secretary K. Jayakumarsays found were estimated as worth more than $ 11 billion.
He said officials need to examine archaeological discovery in detail to determine its actual value.
Treasure was found in at least five underworld SreePadmanabhaswamy Temple, known for his sculptures, AFPreported. The temple is in the southern state of Kerala, near the tip of the subcontinent.
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Jayakumar told AFP that it remained a secret chamber to open.

18-foot of necklace 

temple was dedicated to the god Vishnu, and laid the foundation of the current tower beginning in 1566.
AFP said the devotees were grants to vault over hundredslat.Naszyjnik find this week was said to be 18 meters long.
Since India's independence from Britain in 1947, APF, said the temple was controlled by a trust fund managed by the descendants of the royal family of Travancore.
But the Supreme Court recently ordered that the temple be under state control.
The news of the treasure has prompted increased police presence, Kerala Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose told AFP thatsecurity was a commando force in the planning.