A literal pile of gold, gems, and jewelry has been found under the ground of a temple in Thiruvananthapuram, India. The uncovered pile of treasure included 450 gold pots, 400 gold chairs, and a jewel encrusted statue of Lord Vishu, which had around 1,000 diamonds embedded.
The Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, which held the treasures in its vaults, is a Hindu temple located in South India, and with the recent finds the temple is now being considered the world’s richest place of worship.
With the last, seventh vault still to be excavated, the current rough estimate of the total worth stands at $22 billion dollars. This is a low estimate reports C.S Rajan, a member of a seven man team in charge of overseeing the temple treasure.
“The actual value of the assets found so far is much more than what has been published,” Rajan stated. “The formal list which will be deposited with the Supreme Court will be much more detailed.”
In a country where many of the population go starving day to day, debate has now sparked on how to best manage and use the new found riches. The Indian government has refused to seize and take control of the treasures and left the matter of how best to use the resources to the temple and its directors.
So far the treasure accounted for fills 65 sacks and 3 large boxes, along with the gold pots and chairs.