In India, it is a tradition to store treasures in temples. These treasures are not hidden in secret places; at least, those responsible for the temples know about them.
For example, in Liang En's previous life, he had heard of a treasure hidden in an Indian temple located in Kerala. In 2001, an intelligence officer named Sundara Rajan, who served during the Indira Gandhi government, settled near the Padmanabhaswamy Temple after his retirement.
As a devout Hindu, Sundara Rajan, though in his seventies, prayed at the temple every day starting at 2 AM, for eight hours each time, using this time to search the temple.
In 2009, Sundara Rajan found that the temple's security measures were inadequate and complained to the Kerala High Court, demanding that the government take over the temple’s management and safeguard its treasures.
The nature of the Indian officials is well-known; such benefits delivered to their doorsteps could not be ignored. In January 2011, the Kerala High Court ruled that the temple would be taken over by the state government.
Before the official takeover, a committee of seven people was assigned to inventory the temple’s assets and create a record. Prior to the inventory, it was discovered that the temple had six underground vaults.
These vaults were labeled with letters from A to F, with vaults "A" and "B" having been unopened for nearly 140 years.
On June 29, 2011, vault A and four other vaults were opened, revealing treasures including nearly a ton of gold jewelry, diamonds, and gems.
There were also over 1,200 gold chains weighing about 2.5 kilograms each, three golden crowns, a three and a half-foot tall diamond-encrusted Vishnu idol, and a ton of golden elephants, among other countless gold coins and artifacts.
The estimated value of these treasures exceeded one trillion rupees, roughly 145 billion yuan, or more than 20 billion dollars. Previously, the richest temple in India was the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh.
However, the Tirupati Temple's assets were valued at only 320 billion rupees. The Padmanabhaswamy Temple’s treasures far surpassed this amount, making it the richest temple in India.
The problem was that these treasures were not ownerless. Local families knew of the treasure trove, and many of the treasures were donated by their ancestors.
This was a tradition among the higher castes of India, such as the Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Wealthy high-caste members would donate wealth to the temples, and impoverished high-caste members could receive aid from the temples.
For them, the temples provided not only traditional religious needs but also economic support, fulfilling a part of their insurance needs.
In addition, in a country like India, where grassroots illiteracy is widespread and feudal rule persists, public services are limited. Temples naturally filled this gap.
For instance, during natural disasters, temples often served as important rescue centers, performing various grassroots functions. This complexity in the internal systems of many Indian temples is the reason why.
For Indians, temples are not merely religious places but serve as grassroots government and spiritual leadership centers.
Under such circumstances, Indian temples often amassed considerable wealth. Thus, when Liang En and his companions realized they were in an underground vault of a temple, their first thought was that it might have once contained treasures.
Yes, it once contained treasures. Judging by the scattered gold and silver coins on the ground and the explosives found in the ruins above, the chances of the treasures still being there were slim.
As they advanced, Liang En and his companions grew more serious. The depth and length of the tunnel far exceeded their expectations.
Although there were no carvings on the stones along the tunnels, building such a large underground structure in a remote area was impressive and attested to the temple's importance.
After walking about twenty meters from the exit, they finally stopped. They discovered a stone door installed on the path ahead.
“This should be the treasure room.” They nodded at the obviously blown-open stone door. “But just as we suspected, it has been robbed.”
“To be precise, it has been thoroughly looted.” Fan Meng looked at the shattered door and said, “I bet the only things left inside are a few coins or some small jewelry.”
“You jinx!” Forty minutes later, Liang En said to Fan Meng with a gloomy face. They found that the pile of things they had discovered with a metal detector couldn’t even fill a person's palm.
Clearly, the people who had destroyed this place with explosives had thoroughly looted it, leaving only some small fragments in the mud.
Besides that, they found several skeletons, each with bullet wounds. If they guessed correctly, these were likely the remains of grave robbers who had killed to keep their secret.
Fan Meng confirmed that these people had been tied up and shot in the back of the head. Linking this with the temple vault, it was easy to surmise that the situation involved murder to cover up the crime.
By analyzing the wounds, they also determined that the gun used was a British black powder revolver from around 1860.
“It seems unlikely that the diggers were official British representatives.” After exiting the basement, Jeanne d'Arc analyzed the situation based on their findings.
This wasn’t to absolve the British colonizers but to point out that, for the British authorities in colonial India, they could openly excavate such ruins without needing to resort to murder.
For the British colonizers, who plundered India thoroughly, taking anything they wanted openly was enough. The secretive nature of the operation indicated that those responsible were committing a crime even by the standards of that time.
“You’re right. But with so much wealth, it would have attracted attention in any era, so we should be able to find clues about this ruin.” Liang En nodded to Jeanne d'Arc.
“The next phase of work will be handled by the servants and workers sent by the Verma family. They will clean the basement thoroughly, and then we can see if there are enough clues.”
Afterward, Liang En and his companions had lunch and waited for the workers' findings. Soon, about an hour later, they received new information while drinking tea.
“You’re saying one of the deceased was a British man?” Liang En frowned after hearing the servant’s report. “Take me to see. I think the situation might be different from what I imagined.”
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