Records of the temple’s treasure, or matilakam, have always existed. These records, written on palm leaves, have all been opened and Diwan Peshkar Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, the special officer to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, had selected 271 from the thousands of records and published them as the Pradhanapetta Matilakam Rekhakal (important Matilakam records) in 1941. Every donation made by merchants, officials, rajas and the reason for the donation, like the prayaschitta (act of atonement), was recorded. “One good thing the Travancore the from the general administration. The money from taxes never went into the temple and vice versa,” says Narayanan.
The reason the treasure still exists is because invaders never ventured this far south. Though there were a few incursions from the Chola kings, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple stayed untouched. Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan never invaded Travancore, their armies only breaching north Kerala up to Thiruvanchikulam.
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