GURUVAYUR: The long-standing shortage of silver lockets at the Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple has come to an end with the arrival of fresh stock manufactured at the Hyderabad Mint, a Central government undertaking. A total of 9,000 lockets, each weighing five grams and bearing the official emblem of Lord Guruvayurappan, have now been delivered to the Guruvayur Devaswom. The lockets were produced using 100 kg silver.
Devotees will be able to purchase the lockets once official procedures, including price fixation, are completed. With gold prices rising sharply, demand for silver lockets has increased significantly.
While gold lockets were available in sufficient quantity at the temple, silver lockets had been unavailable for more than a year.
Officials stated that approximately five tonnes of silver in the possession of the Devaswom were melted and refined, yielding four tonnes after purification.
From this refined silver, 100 kg were used for the present batch of lockets. The remaining approximately 3,900 kilograms of silver are being safely stored at the Hyderabad Mint.
Devaswom Chairman Dr V K Vijayan said that, with the approval of the Devaswom Commissioner, the Hyderabad Mint has been entrusted with auctioning the remaining silver. Devaswom officials added that the transportation of silver articles from the temple to the mint and the return of the finished lockets were carried out under strict security arrangements.