In July 2011, metal detectors went up at the entrances of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, India, and armed police patrolled the grounds, according to a report in Fox News that the Associated Press contributed to. The reason for the alarm was later discovered in what inspectors had found underneath.
The Supreme Court of India had ordered the vaults inspected after a local lawyer, T.P. Sundararajan, petitioned for the state to take over the temple, citing inadequate security, per Fox News. Six days of searching revealed immense treasure beneath the temple floors.
The haul included gold coins, statues of gods and goddesses studded with diamonds and other precious stones, and gold temple ornaments embellished with jewels, according to the report. Devotees had donated the items over hundreds of years.
An initial estimate put the value at $22 billion, Fox News reported, though the source of this estimate isn’t clear. The outlet said the number was likely very low because the work was still going on and many items were centuries-old antiques.
Five of the six vaults had been opened and inventoried at that point, per Fox News. No written inventory of the contents exists, and an unofficial estimate puts the value at above Rs 1 lakh crore, or $22 billion, excluding antiques, according to The Quint.
The temple in Thiruvananthapuram is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and has an 18-foot reclining idol of Padmanabha, per The Quint. Unlike other Kerala temples, its assets were managed by a trust controlled by the Travancore royal family, according to The News Minute.
Kerala’s chief minister, Oommen Chandy, said the wealth would stay with the temple. “The treasures are the property of the temple. We will ensure the utmost security for the temple and its wealth,” he said, as quoted by Fox News. Historian K.N. Panikkar said the objects “should be preserved in a museum with modern security arrangements.” However, Chandy has kept his word and made sure that the treasures remained within the temple.
The sixth vault, known as Vault B, has stayed closed. In 2014, the Supreme Court deferred opening it until a committee had finished cataloguing the other vaults, per The Quint. The royal family has opposed opening it, The News Minute reported.
Local belief adds to the mystery. Engravings on the vault door resemble a cobra, which is linked to Lord Vishnu’s reclining form, according to The News Minute. The outlet reports that a legend holds that only sadhus chanting the Garuda Mantra could open it.
In July 2020, the Supreme Court returned control of the temple to the royal family. A new committee will decide how the temple’s wealth is used, including the contents of the vault that has not been opened, according to Reuters.
As for cataloguing, The Quint reported in 2020 that no written inventory of the contents exists. As of August 2025, Vault B was still unopened, and the question had not been discussed for several years, according to Deccan Herald. That month, a state government representative on the temple’s governing body raised the need to decide on opening it.
Not every famous vault holds a fortune. When Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault on live TV, it held only dirt and two bottles, treasure nowhere to be found.
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