The wealth found under the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, whatever be its valuations, a book reveals that the wealth is not ill gotten instead 95 per cent of the wealth comprised of regular donations made by various branches of the Travancore royal family. According to ‘Charithram Kuricha Sree Padmanabha Swamy Kshethram,’ written by noted historians M.G. Sasibhooshan and Dr R.P. Raja, the stunning facts have been revealed.

Dr Sasibhooshan termed as utterly false the contention that the wealth consisted of funds garnered through harsh taxes such as ‘Mulakkaram’ (breast tax). “This allegation is being made on the basis of a casual reference by historian Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, who did not present any evidence to prove it,” he said. “The records show that the tax revenue went to the state coffers and not to the temple.”

Infact another bit of the information, grabbed from another source suggests that the kings considered themselves as slaves of the god and hence kept the wealth beneath his feet. They were generous in nature that they even donated some gold coins to their citizens (nearly 20 gms at that time, and its true!) and the property that was at present found was the remaining one. Travancore in those days thrived on spices agriculture which was extremely valuable, and therefore the Romans, the Dutch, the Arabs et al came there to buy the stuff. This enriched Travancore coffers, which reveals the secret of so much wealth in the temple.