For years, the Padmanabhaswamy temple , a Vaishnavite shrine in Kerala , has maintained a relatively low profile, before emerging suddenly as the richest temple in a country of many rich shrines. Investigators are still opening underground vaults, but it's reckoned that the amount of gold, precious stones and valuable knick-knacks they've already dug up could be worth around Rs 1,00,000 crore, more than India's annual education budget. Over the decades, the gods, and their well-heeled followers, have been extremely charitable to the temple.
Should the temple now repay this charity by encashing some of the precious stuff to do something good for society? Or should it hold on to what it has because it's all too ancient and holy to be measured, valued and sold? Consider the second option first: the gold, diamonds and so on that have been discovered will eventually have some number pasted on them, only to be thrown back into the dungeons and locked up for a couple of centuries more.
In that case, would there be any meaning to the value that is attached to these things? What is Rs 1,00,000 crore worth, if it's sitting in a dungeon ? Zero. The other option would be to use this treasure trove to generate liquid cash, for which there are several ways even eschewing outright sale. The cash thus generated will certainly prove to be more useful than trinkets in a vault.
Who will the money go to? There could be a million legal quibbles about that question. But consider what the 13th century philosopher Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need." In this case, divinity would surely approve.
Should the temple now repay this charity by encashing some of the precious stuff to do something good for society? Or should it hold on to what it has because it's all too ancient and holy to be measured, valued and sold? Consider the second option first: the gold, diamonds and so on that have been discovered will eventually have some number pasted on them, only to be thrown back into the dungeons and locked up for a couple of centuries more.
In that case, would there be any meaning to the value that is attached to these things? What is Rs 1,00,000 crore worth, if it's sitting in a dungeon ? Zero. The other option would be to use this treasure trove to generate liquid cash, for which there are several ways even eschewing outright sale. The cash thus generated will certainly prove to be more useful than trinkets in a vault.
Who will the money go to? There could be a million legal quibbles about that question. But consider what the 13th century philosopher Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need." In this case, divinity would surely approve.
No comments:
Post a Comment