The Mysterious SEALED Temple Door NO ONE Can Open: Last Door of Padmanabhaswamy

originally posted by: hiddenlight
Anyone else notice the French/Jewish/Egyptian "fleur de lis" on the door?

This is something I'm interesting in.

Yes, I found that interesting as well, since the Padmanabhaswamy Temple is known from ancient writings from AT LEAST the 1st Centure BCE, but possibly even earlier than that.

The fleur-de-lis, from what I've read in a few places (including Wiki, might be a Christianized, stylized symbol derived from depictions of the vajra:

The earliest mention of the vajra is in the Rigveda, part of the four Vedas. It is described as the weapon of Indra, the chief among Gods. Indra is described as using the vajra to kill sinners and ignorant persons. The Rigveda states that the weapon was made for Indra by Tvastar, the maker of divine instruments. The associated story describes Indra using the vajra, which he held in his hand, to slay the asura Vritra, who took the form of a serpent.

I bolded the last sentence because I find it interesting that the account has a serpent killed with a vajra, and we possibly have a depiction of the vajra on the door of Vault B, which has serpents prominently displayed on it.

Anyone's interpretation of this correlation or possibility is as good as mine--I have no idea other than wild speculation (could this vault contain the weapon, or be the place where the weapon was created by Tvastar for Indra, or, since Vritra became the head of the Asuras, this could be where demonic forces are locked away...anything is possible when the imagination is left to wonder).

Maybe Vault B houses the body of Asura Vritra, and like someone else noted, when the door opens, it could unleash him a la "The Mummy."

Again, imagination...

originally posted by: Zcustosmorum


Additionally, if I remember correctly, there is a written account from the 1930's of people gaining access years before, and I paraphrase but they were said to "run away in fear after encountering a vault of cobras", which I find hard to believe as how would the cobras have survived in a sealed vault

You are confused and misremembering Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom

First, thank you for the information, I was not aware of this temple.
As a classical archaeologist I found it really intruiging that there are apparently so many conflicting reports.
With a very light fact checking process, you can get a better idea of what's really going on.

First, the temple itself. It is a "modern" building from 1750 and the original deed is still available at the local archive. I don't know if there was something relevant at this location before but the mystical stuff around it take a little hit since it's not even a 300 years old construction.

People seems to think it's older because it may contain some ancient artefacts. The Maharaja of Travancore at the begining of the 18th century is the key of this. As a ruler of considerable part of what is to become India, he already has a considerable personnal wealth with some objects going way back, to a time of trades with the western world as early as 200 or 300 BC. You can think of a mixed bag of raw products (gems, gold, silver, etc.), coins and more fashionable items in precious metal. Here goes your first pack of "ancient items". At the begining of the 18th century our Maharaja unveils a plot from local chieftains. They are executed and there wealth seized. Here comes more precious objects. Then, he thinks it could also be a good idea to conquer some nearby kingdoms and eventually the story ends up with more seizing.

At this point, he makes a smart move. We are in 1750 and “As repentance (for plundering), he dedicated his entire kingdom to God". The Padmanabhaswamy temple is build and it is smart for at least two reasons:
- First, he is officially giving the wealth to god so technically most of the treasure is not his anymore. BUT (and it's a big one) he is still the curator of this wealth. You have to understand that a divinity can have terrestrial possessions but someone has to act as the guardian angel of said possessions. Very smart hu?
- Second, that's also one of the safest way to keep huge amount of wealth. Stealing from local autorithies is one thing, stealing from the main god of a civic religion is another. You don't steal from this rich guy that most people hate, you are stealing the community (even if at the end of the day, the Maharaja can use it as his own if he is subtile enough) and angering god (and believers at the same time). That and big set of doors in the sanctum sanctorum.

So, the temple is a big safe with a specific organisation related to religious practices.
In the vaults you have: part of the personnal wealth of the Maharaja, most of the lootings that includes raw materials and precious objects, some of them having a lithurgic value, and some gifts from the devout (that are mostly of small value and certainly used as a mean to account for daily activities and general stuff of the sanctuary, no need to grab some gold or a ruby for that).

You have at least six vaults maybe even eight:
- C and E are used to store ornaments for daily liturgical activities (the ones that are open very often)
- D and F are used to store more precious ornaments for special festivals (the ones that are open a few time every year)
Both of them also contain a "small" amount of valuable goods, I guess to have stuff within easy reach in case of need.
- A and B are used to store the most valuables goods (the ones that are almost never open)
- G and H are newly (really?) found vaults and could very well be facing C and E, so that you have four vaults on each side of the sanctum sanctorum.

Map of the sanctuary

Each vault seems to have antechambers that lead further down to other chambers.
The description of Vault A is quite colorful:
"They unlocked two outer doors, one of metal and the other of wood. They entered a small room with a huge rectangular slab on the floor, like a toppled tombstone. It took five men more than thirty minutes to move the slab. Beneath it they found a narrow, pitch-black passage, barely wide enough for an adult to get through, leading down a short flight of steps. It was just like the “hollow covered by a stone” described by the British missionary. Before the observers descended, a team of firemen arrived and used special equipment to pump oxygen into the enclosure. At the bottom of the stairs was the vault."

As someone said earlier, the only thing preventing the opening of Vault B was a jammed latch from the third (and innermost) door. By the time they found a competent enough locksmith, the supreme court ordered not to open it.

Why is this surfacing only now? Well, for a long time it seems that there was an "understanding" about the temple. It was kind of a piggybank and rulers where cautious enough not to take too much from it. People knew more or less there was wealth inside but not really the extent of it.
But in 2007 a guy started a lawsuit arguing that the goods of the temple were not secure since there were proof of small lootings from vaults C and E (like people stealing a gold ring and putting back a fake one and so on). That was enough to shake the "understanding" that the Maharaja of Travancore was the guardian angel of the temple since he has no real political power anymore.

I guess the real story is not as mystic as one would want but still, I find it to be a good story.

Some mysteries also remains:
- we still don't have access to a partial or a comprehensive inventory of the finds. I suspect it's related to some more stealing from officials and they don't want to disclose to which extent since it could very well be considerable. It's also funny to think that an investigation directed toward the cessation of mismanagrment and small lootings led to even more lootings.
- we still don't know what is inside Vault B beside 100 silver pots in the antechamber. It could be gold bars (a lot of them): "the previous maharaja, Sri Chithira Thirunal, had shared secrets about the temple—including the fact that in its treasuries were solid-gold bars"

But the current head of the royal family is telling another story:
"He told me, rather cryptically, “Of course, there is something there, but not what they’re talking about.” Accounts of immense riches in the vault were “tall stories.”"

My guess is that thieves from every generation have already broken into it and all but the most obvious treasures are long gone. Because curses are one thing, but they don't work well against a skinny little starving guy with a shovel.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
My guess is that thieves from every generation have already broken into it and all but the most obvious treasures are long gone. Because curses are one thing, but they don't work well against a skinny little starving guy with a shovel.

Lol. Dark forces are very real and they will work on the skinny natives as well

originally posted by: Hyperboles
Lol. Dark forces are very real and they will work on the skinny natives as well

I'm just going by history. The only tombs with any real treasure left in them are those that were somehow abandoned forgotten by the people who created them. That's not the case here. This is just a straightforward challenge.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
[The fleur-de-lis, from what I've read in a few places (including Wiki, might be a Christianized, stylized symbol derived from depictions of the vajra:

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the fleur-de-lis is just what the name says: a lily, albeit a stylized one. It was a common symbol in European coats of arms.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

If you say so.

I've read that version of the history of it, also...but I've read other possibilities as well. Since this thread is about India, I figured that I'd touch on the possibility.

Like I said in the comment of mine that you quoted: "The fleur-de-lis ... might be a Christianized, stylized ... vajra."

Emphasis mine, because the term "might be" is an important indication that I'm not married to that version of the origin, just that it's a possibility.

You didn't burst a bubble, because there was no bubble. But as far as the origins of and evolutions of symbols go, I'm pretty well versed on the subject matter--being a graphic designer by trade, the history and evolution of logos and symbology and their origins has always been an interest of mine. Just because the fleur-de-lies exists on European coats of arms doesn't mean that the symbol couldn't have originated and evolved from a foreign symbol--or been a copy of one.

Again--no bubble burst, and we're all entitled to our opinions on the matter. Just keep in mind that "might be" matters.

a reply to: ADSE255

Where's the picture from?

What's with the freemason symbol found on a carved rock/stone @1:21 of the video. How is this related to the story of the temple? or was it just some prop thrown in there for conspiracy theory? In fact, which pictures in that video are actually related to the temple?

a reply to: f0xbat

It seems that most of them are unrelated or at least misleading.
Almost none of the objects from the Vault have picture available, it's only random "treasure pictures".
I don't know for the door but someone told it was not the real one and it does not really fit the description of the most trustful article.
The lying divinity looks "ok", it fits the description but I have no clue where the original picture comes from.

a reply to: Jacquouille

If the pictures are not of or related to the temple vault and its content. Then that creates a conflict. How is someone able to sort the fact from fiction. Which is fact? the story? or the pictures? or only some of the pictures? or only some of the story? It raises even more questions, like why even put fictitious material in the video if it doesn't belong in there? This video hurts my brain.

originally posted by: f0xbat
a reply to: Jacquouille

If the pictures are not of or related to the temple vault and its content. Then that creates a conflict. How is someone able to sort the fact from fiction. Which is fact? the story? or the pictures? or only some of the pictures? or only some of the story? It raises even more questions, like why even put fictitious material in the video if it doesn't belong in there? This video hurts my brain.

I was looking in to this all ready to create a thread. The door we see i suspect isnt the door i believe this may be it.

www.pinterest.com...

originally posted by: Jacquouille
With a very light fact checking process, you can get a better idea of what's really going on.

(section snipped)

Why is this surfacing only now? Well, for a long time it seems that there was an "understanding" about the temple. It was kind of a piggybank and rulers where cautious enough not to take too much from it. People knew more or less there was wealth inside but not really the extent of it.
But in 2007 a guy started a lawsuit arguing that the goods of the temple were not secure since there were proof of small lootings from vaults C and E (like people stealing a gold ring and putting back a fake one and so on). That was enough to shake the "understanding" that the Maharaja of Travancore was the guardian angel of the temple since he has no real political power anymore.

I guess the real story is not as mystic as one would want but still, I find it to be a good story.

Some mysteries also remains:
- we still don't have access to a partial or a comprehensive inventory of the finds. I suspect it's related to some more stealing from officials and they don't want to disclose to which extent since it could very well be considerable. It's also funny to think that an investigation directed toward the cessation of mismanagrment and small lootings led to even more lootings.
- we still don't know what is inside Vault B beside 100 silver pots in the antechamber. It could be gold bars (a lot of them): "the previous maharaja, Sri Chithira Thirunal, had shared secrets about the temple—including the fact that in its treasuries were solid-gold bars"

But the current head of the royal family is telling another story:
"He told me, rather cryptically, “Of course, there is something there, but not what they’re talking about.” Accounts of immense riches in the vault were “tall stories.”"

Thank you for the excellent research - I can confirm that I came across the same material when I was looking this up. I agree with the last statement that the "immense riches" are probably tall stories and what's in the vault is probably more of the same type of thing that's in the other chambers.

I've some catching up to make.

It's good to see my post is still going, awesome.

a reply to: Jacquouille

A brilliant response.

Your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Multitasking is not my friend.

Sorry if I've missed anyone.

a reply to: Whatsthisthen

The website

a reply to: Hyperboles

Some Davinci artifacts might even be involved since the gathering occurred in 1750.

originally posted by: Whatsthisthen
a reply to: ADSE255

That vedic science is way beyond me : )

But I'll give you an insight to what I found out about the treasure behind that door.

The Brahmins have forgotten who they are.

Brahmin (/ˈbrɑːmənə/; ब्राह्मण) is a varna (class, caste) in Hinduism specialising as priests, teachers (acharya) and protectors of sacred learning across generations. (Wikipedia)

Until the Brahmins remember who they are, there will be problems with that temple door and the chamber(s) beyond.

There are two "dungeons" to that chamber (Patala).
There is one "physical" chamber.
There are two "higher" chambers.

More to it then opening a door.

And the reason people need to respect what they're looking at here. Missed this btw.

I agree. There is much more to this than just another door.