The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-01-02
TlRUPATl TEMPLE TREASURE.
A Most Remarkable Trial Before q British
Court in India.

lit is by no means surprising" says
the Colonies and India, 'that the
strange case of the now famous Tiru-
patti temple treasure should have excit-
ed such an extraordinary feeling of in
dignation as it appears to have done
among the Hindu population of India.
Tirupati is the Mecca of Hindostan, if,
indeed the comparison is at all allow
able, seeing that the temple which has
just been so grossly defiled was erected,
in the first instance, close upon 5000
years ago.
''The trial in connection with the
robbery of the Tirupati treasure is pro-
badly the most remarkable which has
ever come before British court in In
dia. The sacred temple stands on the
Tirumalat range, some 1000 feet above
sea level, and commands a tract of
about 100 square miles. the whole OF
which, up to quite a recent period, was
regarded in the strictest sense as holy
ground, nobody but Hindu being al
lowed to ascend the ghauts. Even at
the present time the collector and the
superintendent of police are the only
+ Europeans whom the government per-
cepting, of course, on special occa-
other day when the services of civil
engineer were required within the pre-
cincts of the temple to superintend the
excavations.
The temple itself has, in reality,
never been entered by white man,
and all its available entrances are jeal-
ously guarded by armed men, who
have instructions to strike down and,
if necessary, to kill any unauthorized
person who attempts to invade the
sanctuary. The sacred edifice is. in
closed by three stone walls, of which
the outer one is twenty-three feet in
height. From the devotee's point of
view the sacredness of the place is
centered in great flagstaff, which
penetrates from floor to roof, and is 81
feet high, 3 feet in diameter at the base
and 16 inches at the summit. The
staff is incased in copper overlaid with
gold and set in slab of granite nearly
three feet in thickness. In the immedi-
ate neighborhood of the flagstaff the
image of the god is preserved, while
the staff itself is actually supposed to
be the abode of the temple god-or its
'mentric essence
''Some seventeen years since, it
seems, certain coin treasure, valued
roughly at two lacs of rupees, was dis
covered in the temple and was duly
handed over to the mahunt as manager
and trustee Of the editice. In 1900 the
Mahunt Dhurma Doss died and was
succeeded by Sri Hathiramjee Muttam
Won Doss Jee. The new mahunt ap-
pears to have discharged his sacred
and responsible functions to the salts
faction of everybody concerned, and in
1887 it was resolved to replace the old
awjastu meum, or sacred flagstaff, by
new one. Before the work was complet-
ed the idea appears to have suggested
itself to the mahunt to bury the treas
ure-the two iacs of rupees to which he
had succeeded the temple,
The treasure was placed in six cop
per vessels, the covers of which were
duly sealed up, and they We're then
buried in the receptacle prepared for
them. Now it is found that the gold
has all been removed from them and
copper coins substituted -Four tomple
servants-by name Narasimha, Kusal,
Gopairao, and Haribbian-were in 1887
intrusted, after being duly sanctited
by divers mysterious rites and cere-
monies, with the burial of the treasure
pots, and fact that appears to inter.
est the police and others a good deal at
present is that two of them-kusal and
Haribbian-are now each worth a lac
of rupees although the whole four
were discharged some time ago, and
none of them are known to have what
is sternly known as lawful visible
means of support
''On the Other hand, an astonishing
ly queer-looking case is made out
against the mahunt himself, who, it is
asserted, allowed his cupidity to over.
come the scruples of his sacred calling
and collared the swag himself. The
question as to who has really appropri-
ated the treasure seems difficult one,
as far as the inquiry has proceeded, tc
determine, and it is possible that the af
fair may never be satisfactorily cleared
up. Probably the most natabe feat.
ure in connection of the affair from Q
Hindu point of view, at all events, is
the peculiarly apathetic demeanor of
the Tirupati god, who should have been
deeply interested in the proceedings.
The 'mantric essence which has exer,
cised such an omnipotent power over
the Hindu for centuries past, appears
to have lain dormant while the temple
was defiled. and the mean trick of sub
stituting few Kindred rupees worth
of copper money for two lac's worth OF
gold coinage was done right under the
pillars of the Tirupati sarctum.n