if you found a treasure worth, possibly, billions of dollars in your church basement?
That’s what happened in India not long ago:
When a team of unlikely explorers, including former judges and temple officials, started opening the vaults of a Kerala temple last week, they didn’t expect to find gold and precious stones worth $22 billion, according to preliminary estimates. A complete inventory of the artifacts found in the 16th century Hindu temple is expected to be filed to India’s Supreme Court next week.
With the findings, Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple joins the ranks of the world’s top treasure troves. After eluding explorers and archeologists for years, these were found stashed in hidden vaults, secret chambers and caves.
Like the discoverers of this great treasure, you probably wouldn’t know what to do. My understanding is that they’ve rewalled up the treasure until they can figure out what to do.
As you might expect, the security issues are enormous. This previously sleepy temple is now under armed guard by state security officers. If I were a government official in the Indian state of Kerala, I’d check the security officers’ pockets when they left work.
A curator is being appointed by the court to assess the treasure’s value, identify to whom it belongs, and produce a plan for what to do with it. I look forward to pictures. The preliminary reports are of, literally, tons of gold coins, precious jewels, and artifacts, including many that are hundreds of years old.
Like something out of an implausible action flick.