I belong originally to the Kingdom of Travancore in the pre-independent India which is now part of the state of Kerala in the Indian Republic . Instead of the national anthem , we used to sing an anthem praising the King and wishing him long life in schools on his birthday .
The Chera Dynasty of Travancore has a lineage running more than a thousand years till the British took control of its destiny . The King when beaten in battle by his neighboring Pandyas from the East , took a vow in front of his family deity – Lord Padmanabha at the Trivandrum temple that henceforth , he will rule his kingdom only as a servant of the God and will lead an austere life . He surrendered all his riches to the God on that day and took a pledge that he will visit the temple daily and offer his prayers . This incident took place may be more than 400 years ago and turned the tides of fortune for the king who could not only regain all lost territory but could also expand his kingdom significantly . The vow and the rituals are still in vogue in spite of all the political changes which took place thereafter .
The temple and its enormous riches became known during the last two weeks , when under an order by the judiciary based on a public interest petition , it was revealed that all the gold ,silver ,diamonds and many other valuable items stored at many cellars inside the temple by the successive kings and guarded diligently by a hand full of security guards are all in tact without any loss or plunder !
The entire nation woke up to the news of such a treasure which may exceed the value of one hundred thousand crores INR [ approximately $ 22 billion] in current estimates and saluted the integrity and honor code practiced by the Travancore Dynasty in spite of various trials and tribulations down the line ! – A great lesson for all in the wake of scams , looting of public money and acts of organized vandalism .