Context: The administrators of Kerala's Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, one of the richest in India, informed the Supreme Court that the closure of the temple during the pandemic resulted in a “financial crunch”.

Details:

• In its verdict last year, the top court had also declared the former royals as the manager or shebait of the properties of the Sri Padmanabha, the chief deity of the famed temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
• The court had also accepted the royals’ submission that the temple was a “public temple”.

About the temple:

• The Padmanabhaswamy temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala,
• The name of the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta", referring to the deity of the Padmanabhaswamy temple.
• The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Chera style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopura.
• While the Ananthapura temple in Kumbla is considered the original seat of the deity ("Moolasthanam"), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar.
• The principal deity Padmanabhaswamy (Vishnu) is enshrined in the "Anantha Shayana" posture, the eternal yogic sleep on the serpent Adi Shesha.
• Padmanabhaswamy is the tutelary deity of the royal family of Travancore.
• The titular Maharaja of Travancore, Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, is the trustee of the temple.

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/unable-to-pay-dues-padmanabhaswamy-temple/article33825931.ece

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