Copyright timesnownews
Audits of the Guruvayur Devaswom — from gold and silver to ivory and manjadikuru (red lucky seeds) — have revealed that despite the Sri Krishna temple's immense wealth, its management systems remain fragile, opaque and open to misappropriation. The findings were made in the audit reports by the state audit department between the 2019-20 and 2020-21, Times of India reported. The audit reports have also red flagged the lapses in the handling of elephant tusks and ivory at the Guruvayur Devaswom's Punnathur Kotta sanctuary. As per the 2019-20 audit, Guruvayur Devaswom failed to hand over 522.86kg of ivory it collected through tusk-trimming and ivory handling during that year to the forest department as required by law. The findings reveal that between April and November 2019, tusks and ivory chips weighing 505kg (Sept 26, 2019), 14.18kg (Sept 19, 2019), 2.35kg (2018-19 balance), 730g (April 22, 2019), 320g (July 14, 2019) and 280g (July 29, 2019) were either removed or remained in possession without documentation. Even the mandatory mahazar (seizure memo) and handover receipts were missing, TOI reported quoting the audit reports. "As per the letter from the assistant conservator of forests, the devaswom was directed to furnish details of the tusks and ivory chips in its custody within ten days, but neither was the information provided nor were the tusks or ivory pieces handed over to the forest department," the audit observed, according to TOI. The remark raise concern over the possibility that vast quantities of ivory may have remained outside legal oversight without any trace or accountability. Responding to the audit findings, Guruvayur Devaswom chairman V K Vijayan said the audit report pertains to a period before the present board's tenure. "The matter pertains to the time before the current governing body took charge. It already came up before the court, where the devaswom filed its reply. Since 2022, six elephants belonging to the devaswom have died, and in all those cases, the postmortems were conducted in the presence of the forest department. The ivory was never handed over to us — we only receive the postmortem reports. The observations in the audit report refer to a period well before that," he said, according to TOI. The audit team has also revealed shocking discrepancies on gold and silver articles used for daily rituals inside the temple. The findings revealed that items returned after use often showed unexplained weight loss. TOI reported that while items like silver pot lost 1.19kg within ten months, in some cases what was returned wasn't even the same material. The audit team findings also found that not only a gold crown was replaced with a silver ornament, a 2.65kg silver vessel was substituted with one weighing just 750g. Despite such alarcity, none of these differences triggered an inquiry or accountability action by the temple management, TOI reported. The 2019-20 audit also revealed that 17 sacks of manjadikuru offered by devotees, which were auctioned at Rs 100 per kg, were never collected by the successful bidder. It was found that the manjadikuru were collected by the health department workers from the western tower of the temple and taken away on a devaswom tractor. The audit found that large donations and valuable offerings were never mentioned in official registers. The accounting of copper, bronze and panchaloha articles stopped in 2016. For all the latest news and india news, visit Times Now to get live updates and breaking news around the world.
