The Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur owns 271 acres of land and has fixed deposits amounting to Rs 2053 crore. Meanwhile, the details of the area of land under the Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala are not available as a survey is underway based on a High Court directive.
At the same time, the Sabarimala temple has fixed deposits amounting to a mere Rs 41.74 lakh. Details of the assets of both temples, which are among the most popular shrines in Kerala, were obtained by Manorama News in reply to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The details received also reveal that the authorities are yet to make an estimate of the value of the assets such as gold possessed by Guruvayur and Sabarimala temples. Guruvayur temple owns 124 kg of gold donated by devotees, another 72 kg gold encrusted with various jewels and 6073 kg of silver.
The temple’s fixed deposits of Rs 2053 crore include Rs 176 crore in Kerala Bank. However, neither the market price of the 271 acres of land nor the actual value of the gold and silver has been calculated.
Similarly, the Sabarimala temple has in its possession 227.82 kg gold and 2994 kg silver. The value of these valuables has not been calculated as the authorities lack the expertise to evaluate antiques. The audit at Guruvayur temple is conducted by an Audit Department appointed by the state government.
Incidentally, audit reports till 2019 did not mention that the evaluation of the valuables was not being carried out. In contrast, other major temples in India such as the Lord Venkateshwara shrine in Tirupati always keep the estimate of all their assets constantly updated.
