Ettumanoor temple chain found with fewer beads
KOTTAYAM: The mystery over the disappearance of the gold rudraksha chain from the Sreekovil of the Mahadeva Temple at Ettumanoor took a new turn with the officials from the Travancore Devaswom Board finding a chain, but with a fewer number of beads, there.
According to the devaswom officials who visited the temple to collect evidence, all the ornaments belonging to the deity are safe in the chest kept in the strong room. “We didn’t find any ornament registered in the Thiruvabharanam register missing,” said an official.
“On inspecting the records, it was found that the last entry showed the number of beads on the chain as 81. However, on counting, it was found that there are just 72 beads. The weight of the chain also showed a difference of 3gm from the last entry, which had cited the weight as 23gm.”
The police have been notified of the matter and the officials are looking into whether it was a case of wrong entry.“These ornaments are kept in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and handled solely by the head priests. The chain, which was inspected with the help of the head priest, seemed to be alright. We didn’t find any evidence of tampering. There was no evidence of rewelding or breakage,” said the official.
To get to the bottom of the issue, the investigating officers have called former head priests and also the person who had offered the chain to the deity. The issue came to light following an inventory conducted by the new head priest when he took charge last week. The devaswom officials said the procedure to enter the list of articles used for pujas and other rituals happens once a head priest relinquishes charge.