THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lord Padmanabha reclines peacefully within his sanctum sanctorum, as debates go on outside. The rulers and politicians, historians and archaeologists and whosoever the authority, each chips in with a view about whom the wealth belongs to. The Travancore royalty indeed needs a humble ‘pranaam’ for leaving untouched such a rich treasure trove. The expressions on the faces of the members of the committee show nothing of what they saw or assessed. Amidst all this is the lurking fear that the treasure may reach the wrong hands. And in between there are people with a strong craving to have just a glimpse of the items that were displayed before the committee for assessment; of the gold items – the scores of sharapoli mala, nagapadom, kazhuthu kudam, narayam, khadika, uruli, kudukudi - the list is endless, besides the precious gems and stones. Like all sensational news, this may also die down, perhaps, when the committee winds up the inventory, and a bill is passed to keep the sakes intact as the Lord’s property, for generations and generations, till centuries later another committee be formed to unravel.My mind rewinds to the mid-August of 2010. It was already 3 p.m. at Washington DC as we stepped down to the side of the road and looked around. Needless to say, the well-paved roads were inlaid with well-manicured lawns and magnificent buildings that peeped out from amidst the verdant arbors. And there, just before us, stood The Smithsonian Institution of the National Museum of National History, one of the world’s largest museums. The Museum was founded and sponsored by James Smithson, a chemist and a mineralogist.The entry to the museum was free, and as we entered we could already feel the enormity of the place. There lay a labyrinth of hallways, vast storage rooms and busy offices, all filled with sights and sounds of discovery. The items of exhibits were over 126 million and the collection still growing. They range from fossilised pollen to bones of Tyrannosaurs, algae samples to a slab of giant sequoia, tiny crustaceans to giant squids, DNA samples to whale skulls, ancient spear points to Chinese shoes, the Hope Diamond to moon rocks. With limited time in hand, our choice was just a visit to the Harry Winston Gallery of Smithsonian Geology, though we made a quick look of fossils, mineral rocks, plant and animal specimens, tools and artworks and the experience was one of beauty and magic. There were innumerable gem stones displayed. Call it their superb art of exhibiting, or splendour in display or polishing or lighting or even may be the preciousness of the precious; and each item had a story to tell.We saw the rare deep blue coloured Hope Diamond, renowned for its flawless clarity. It is said to have been brought to surface by a volcanic eruption. The original owner was Louis-XIV (1668) and later passed on to King George-IV of England and then to Henry Philip Hope and the name stuck. It was given a new design, retaining the old, done by Pierre Cartier. In another corner was French Queen Marie Antoinette’s ear-drops in diamonds; she, who was guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution, must really have looked pretty in this. Then, there was, a wedding gift from Napoleon-1 to his second wife Empress Mary Louis - the Mary Louis Diadem (crown). It gleamed from another case along with a necklace - a gift for giving birth to a son! Jewellers Pierre Cartier and Harry Winston had reset many of the pieces and also donated many of the to the museum. Another donor was Marjorie Meriwether. We had fleeting glimpses of ruby and diamond bracelets with stones like beryl and amethyst. A brooch of black opal peacock with a face which had blue stones and an opal body, and gold beak. Its neck was studded with diamonds, the top feathers in sapphires, and other feathers in rubies and emeralds. There was another sapphire butterfly brooch. A little to the interior was displayed a deep purple cylindrical quartz with wide diameter, stuffed with teethed light purple crystals. Besides there were innumerable rare stones and crystals and rocks and what not. We then wound off to reach another destination. The sights were awesome and their art of exhibiting was all the more fabulous. I thought of the lines of Keats— A thing of beauty is a joy forever—and we did feel greatly joyous, at seeing such bounty before us. Pains were taken to note the history of each item. Everything was systematic, meticulous, and under tight security. It was enormously informative too, not only to us but the posterity as well. Cannot we replicate the step, at least on a tiny scale, of what has been unravelled from underneath the temple? Will we ever be able to set our eyes on them and let ourselves feel the glee, of watching with pride, or flaunting to the outside public, our own sublime monsoon showers of divinity, everything intact and under tight security?
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