Gold famine

Just like us Indians, our gods too love to bedeck in the yellow metal.

Economy slowdown, liquidity crisis, recession, stock market instability, weak industrial growth, investments problem. All terms beyond the grasp of the common man. All that he knows is that prices are increasing day by day and his earnings get him less of his daily needs. So he has to literally tighten his belt and make do with lesser and lesser. But what have these terms got to do with the gods? Everything, according to news  reports.

All the aforementioned factors, acting singly or in combination have contributed to a significant reduction in gold and silver offerings at some of the leading temples of India. The Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati, the Srikrishna Temple in Guruvayoor in Kerala, the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala and the Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai have all seen a considerable drop in their monthly gold offerings by devotees in recent months.

These temples are among the richest in India, with the Tirupati temple reportedly being the second richest in the world, after the Vatican. Yes, the scenario has now changed with the discovery of the mind boggling treasures in the vaults of the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple.

One of the vaults is yet to be opened. Valuation of these gem studded jewellery, gold and silver artifacts is yet to commence and who knows, when the exercise is completed, the total value at current prices may make the temple the worlds richest.

But, as of now, even the gods have to make do with less gold or nothing at all. That is not to say that they have to dress up in imitation jewellery, like us. Just like us Indians, our gods too love to bedeck themselves in the yellow metal.

Our anthropomorphic religion has seen us decorating our gods with diamond and gem encrusted crowns, body armour  (kavachams), necklaces and pendants, waist belts, rings, caste symbols for the forehead, and innumerable other items of jewellery . Even the walls and doors of the sanctums are  gold plated. When the processional deities set out in full regal panoply on their, yes, golden chariots, the sun glares down jealously, unable to match the glitter of the earthly gods. So, it is not a sort of gold famine for them. It’s just a lean season. 

One is not sure whether the accounts and finance sections of these temples have graphical representations of the monthly income and expenditure details, just like in business establishments showing monthly sales figures, turnover etc. One thing is clear. The gold  graph may be curving downwards. But the cash offerings graph is showing an upward trend.

When gold has crossed the 28,000 mark, obviously it’s cheaper for people to drop  cash into the collection boxes than gold or silver.  So our gods need not be apprehensive. They can shop for the latest designer jewellery with hard cash. Once conditions improve, inflow will resume and they can refill their caches.