Kerala is still reeling from the shock of the gold loot at Sabarimala. Now, another storm brews, the audit report of Guruvayoor Temple, the second-largest pilgrimage centre in the state after Sabarimala, has revealed alarming irregularities.
While the orchestrated loot at Sabarimala has already reached the court, reports of a similar pattern emerging from Guruvayoor are now surfacing. According to media reports dated October 21, tusks, gold, and silver offered by devotees, sacred assets of the deity, are found missing. Records of these valuables, including tusks and even red lucky seeds, are either absent or incomplete. Where records exist, the materials mentioned are not found in their rightful place.
Audit reports for 2019–20 and 2020–21, prepared by the State Audit Department, indicate a gross failure in safeguarding temple property. About 522.86 kg of tusks were supposed to be stored in the Punnathoor Kotta complex under the Guruvayoor Devaswom. However, they were never handed over to the Forest Department, despite the rules requiring such action.
The audit highlights the following quantities of tusks and ivory pieces as missing or removed without proper documentation:
- 505.00 kg (April to November 2019)
- 14.18 kg (26 September 2019)
- 2.35 kg (2018–19 balance)
- 0.73 kg (22 April 2019)
- 0.32 kg (14 July 2019)
- 0.28 kg (29 July 2019)
The report quotes a letter from the Forest Assistant Conservator, directing the Devaswom to provide details of tusks and ivory within ten days. The auditors note that this reflects a serious violation of rules in handling ivory assets.
Guruvayoor Devaswom Chairman clarified that the issue pertains to the tenure of the previous Devaswom Board, and the matter had earlier come before the court. He said that the Devaswom had submitted responses at that time. Since 2022, six Devaswom elephants have died, and post-mortems were conducted in the presence of Forest Department officials. Tusks, however, were not handed over to the Devaswom.
Further scrutiny revealed shocking discrepancies in the “double register” of gold and silver items used for daily temple rituals. Items returned after use showed substantial weight loss. A silver vessel, for instance, lost 1.19 kg in ten months, while a lamp’s weight had reduced by several hundred grams. In some cases, the same items were not returned at all, a gold crown was replaced with a silver ornament, and a 2.65 kg silver vessel was substituted with a 750-gram one. These anomalies, however, were never investigated.
The 2019–20 audit also reported that 17 bags of red lucky seeds, stored at the western gopura (temple tower) and offered by devotees, went missing. Though the seeds had been tendered for sale at Rs 100 per kg, the buyer did not collect them. Later, health department staff reportedly removed the bags in a Devaswom truck. CCTV footage confirmed this. Officials claimed the removal was to clear space, but the audit noted that no follow-up documents specify where the seeds were taken or whether they were retendered.
The audit further found that huge donations and valuable offerings were not recorded in the official register. No inventory of copper, bronze, or panchaloha (a five-metal alloy of gold, silver, copper, zinc, and iron) has been conducted since 2016.
In one instance, a devotee from Palakkad donated a large bronze vessel weighing two tonnes and valued at Rs 15 lakh in 2022. However, no receipt was issued, and the item was not recorded or handed over to any responsible official.
Temple purchases also raised questions. Expensive materials, such as Kashmiri saffron costing Rs 1.47 lakh per kg, are bought directly by the temple and also received as offerings. Yet, these are entered only in a personal register maintained by a Deputy Administrator bypassing official records and thereby escaping audit scrutiny.
The auditor pointed out that although the Guruvayoor Devaswom Rules of 1978 and 1980 mandate an annual physical verification of all precious materials, such checks have not been conducted for the past four decades. The 2020–21 audit reiterated these same observations.
Media reports conclude that the failure to verify temple gold and silver is not an isolated lapse but a chronic administrative failure.
As revelations continue to surface, the people of Kerala, especially the Hindu devotees, are deeply disturbed by these unpardonable irregularities. Many believe that the only lasting solution lies in the liberation of temples from atheist and communist control, which, they argue, has led to the decay of faith, mismanagement, and systematic plunder of sacred institutions.
Comments