Dr.R.Nagaswamy
#708090
Underground Secret Treasuries in Ancient Temples
The recent finding of an underground cellar in the Dhenupurisvara temple, Madampakkam, near the city of Madras, has created fresh awareness among the public, on the existance of such safety measures in ancient temples. The main sanctum tower of the temple was built in Chola times 12th century CE. and carries an inscriptions of the Chola emperor Kulottunga III and later Pandya ruler Sundara. An enclosure with small shrines was built in the Vijayanagar times in the 16th century. A room of approximatelyu three meters by two meters, to a height of two meters was found covered on all the sides by granite walls. The entrance was covered also with granite slabs, in such a way that no one would ever suspect the entrance of such a room. Bricks steps were found looking down to the room. It is by the side of such a shrine the underground cellar has been noticed.
Iron hook were notived on the ceiling of this underground room. Even before the discovery of this secret room, the local tradition was strong about the existance of an underground safety room, in the temple, which turned out to be true in this case. That this underground safety room is of was provided in ancient times, in the 16th century even as the enclosure was being built is evident from the architectural details.
Before the advant of Banking system, and safety vault systems, the temples stored their valuables like jewels-gold and other materials, large amount of money in cash and gold of standard weight that were with the temples, credowed by nobles. The temples also loaned these money to the village assembly or individuals, for public purpose and levied interest. Similarly, donors made several gifts of precious jewels for adorning the main deities and the processional bronzes. The cash and jewellery were to be stored in strong rooms.
One such remarkable secret chamber, and more so the guarded system of using it as a safety treasure house, was discovered by me about twenty years ago in the Siva temple of Nallur near Kumbakonam on learning some valuables of he temple are preserved in a secret chamber, I set out to unearth the same. I learnt there was an old man in the village who knew the secrets of the chamber. Intially the man was reluctant, saying that his family had the secrecy as a hereditary right and as the family was in charge of the secret treasury. After some pursuation he agreed to open. We have to break open a false wall where nothing was visible initially. On opening the wall we found a store room, closed with a heavy wooden door and locked. Opening the door we found an empty room with the floor filled with sand. The old man removed the sand at a corner and found a layer of bricks spread without any cementing material. Beneath the bricks was found a granite flooring on the corner of the room. Two granite slabs of the flooring almost served as doors and could be opened by lifting. We found steps in pitch darkness, leading us down to a secret part of the temple. When we landed on the floor of this room we could see a streak of dim light, coming in through the thick granite wall. We could also breath cool fresh air, coming in through a joint of the granite wall. The ceiling was two and a half meter in height. We were disappointed first, as nothing was found in that long rectangular room, but it had two side rooms and in one of them we found a group of Chola bronzes, lamps, ritual vessels and a trisula. The Chola bronzes were of superb quality. It filled us with an exhileraling thrill. The custodian of the secret chamber told us, he himself as a boy had known that this underground safety rooms were used for storing, in metal containers cash and valuable jewels of the temple, but later were removed to safety lockers. The secret passage,and rooms are still there in the temple. With the discovery of this hidden secret treasury in the temple, some aspects of the ancient treasury system was made known. Such hidden treasury were found as part of temple structures and were functional with a special heriditary right as a guarded secret. However any heriditary secret right holder could open this treasury in times of need, only in the presence of the temple representatis, like the Trustees, Accountants, Priests and also the Representatives of the Village assemblies. That the temple had a regular account of all the treasures, so stored and carried out occassional verification is also known. The Chola inscriptions reveal not only gold, cash and jewels were stored in treasuries, but also records like inscriptions. Copper plate charters and palm leaf documents relating to land grants, were also preserved for safety in such chambers.
This author has noticed such underground chambers in a number of temples, like the Ekamranatha temple Kanchipuram, Neman near Chingalput and the Siva temple at Kuzampqneql. The last mentioned is a Chola structure built by the Chola Emperor Rajendra I in early 11th century, which reveals such safety rooms were part of original structural designs in Chola times. Even much earlier to this age, such provisions were made, was noticed in Gangaikondan, in Tirunelveli district, built in 9th-10th century by the Pandyas.
In a few instances, such underground chambers were provided beneath the flooring of ardhamandapa in front of the main sanctum.
When late M. G. R. was the Chief Minister of Tamilnad, he ordered the present author to probe the existane of such a treasury beneath the ardhamandapa of the famous Meenakshi temple Madurai. Due to continuous worship by the public, it was not possible to undertake any digging operation inside the ardhamandapa in front of the main deity. Efforts were made to make use of metal detectors but no such scientific instrument wasavailable that could probe through granite walls of over eight feet width, without disturbing the structure.
Lastly the late T. G. Aravamudan, the noted numismatist, and the author of 'Portrait Sculpture in South India' narrated to this author on more then one occasion, his experience in the Great temple of Tanjore, In his young age, he was once taken blind folded, through an underground passage in the Great temple of Tanjore. When he reached the secret chamber and his eyes opened, he found a large number of Chola bronzes of exqusite beauty stored there. He was able to recollect that the passage through which he went seemed to be between two granite walls. Later he made several attempts to locate the entrance to the passage in the temple but failed.
It is not unlikely that many such underground secret treasure chambers exists but their discovery will remain only a chance find.