By Rima Saini

All this story needs is an Indiana Jones figure, and Kerala is halfway to commissioning its own action-adventure movie. Well, it has found the perfect set at least. Sacks of gold coins, rubies, emeralds, other precious stones, paintings of long-dead maharajahs and maharanis, and countless other treasures, were uncovered in an underground chamber beneath the Sri Padmanabhaswamy mandir last week, by order of the Supreme Court.  

These treasures dating back thousands of years have been perfectly preserved in an underground chamber beneath the Sri Padmanabhaswamy mandir, the royal temple of the former rules of Travancore in the Southern Keralan capital of Thiruvananthapuram

Royal crowns, a solid gold necklace metres long in length and a diamond studded platter are among some of the breathtaking finds that have left archaeologists stunned. Judging by what has been found so far, the market value is way into the tens of billions of dollars – and there are still more cellars to be opened.

The treasure corresponds to various periods in India's history; some of the gold coins date back thousands of years whereas others are more recent and identifiable, dating back to East India company and Napoleonic eras, covering the 17^th to the 19^th century. Sovereigns bearing the 1772 seal were also found, from the time when king Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma reigned over the region as Maharajah of Travancore, presiding over its ''golden age' of social and economic development.

So what now is to be the fate of these long-lost riches, harking back to India's rich past?

There will obviously be disputes as to whether these antiques should be moved from their current resting place, after centuries of lying undisturbed. I myself, who has no ancestral or other notable links to the region or its history, would feel loathe to see these pieces of my country's past becoming commoditised artefacts on the global market, ending up scattered across the world in private art collections or public museums.

Employees of the temple have naturally been claiming that loyal devotees should be allowed special access to the treasure; for them the artefacts have a superior, spiritual value. But despite their allusions to the material greed of the outsiders who have flocked to the temple in the last two weeks since the discovery went public, we cannot be so cynical to believe that none of these people are compelled by such innocent motivations as the historical nature and aesthetic beauty of these finds. This interest would only be compounded by that enduring sense of mysticism which has surrounded popular conceptions of the East, obviously heightened by the news of this long-lost Indian treasure.

Ultimately, however, one cannot eulogise about the sanctity of these artefacts, or their historical significance, without recognising the plain fact that India is still in a dire state of poverty, and could benefit from the kind of financial assistance offered by these treasures. If the relevant authorities can circumvent what is always, in India, the political and bureaucratic nightmare of actually coming to some kind of logical consensus, it would be both irresponsible and irrational to dismiss the possibility of cashing in these riches for the greater social good.

That other simmering concern, however, regarding the terrible curse that could be unleashed if the treasure is ever disturbed...? Well that, I have been assured, is just a waiting game.