Tweet
Mystery shrouded the recovery on Saturday morning of the dome of the Sree Kumaramangalam Subramanya Swamy temple at Muthavazhi, Pandanad near Chengannur in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, said to contain rare and costly metal iridium, which was stolen in mysterious circumstances on Wednesday night.
The bud part of the dome that topped the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was found thrust in the mud in the backyard of the nearby house of Sakthikumara Bhattathiri, who was holding the right of rituals at the shrine. Police personnel, including dog squad and finger print experts started examinations in the area.
The 35-cm top bud part of the 80-cm tall dome, which had been attracting hundreds of people from outside the village, including scientists, scholars and antique dealers since stories about iridium in it began to spread in 2008, was noticed to have been missing from atop the sanctum sanctorum on the morning of Thursday.
The dome-part was found from the plot of Bhattathiri just when the police were about to extend the search for its burglars to other parts of the State and outside. There was mystery in the robbery and recovery, said N Narendra Babu, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Chengannur, adding that those responsible would be arrested soon.
Visitors from even outside the State had been flocking to the sleepy village of Pandanad since May, 2008 after the administration committee of the temple claimed that some “outside” dealers had approached them saying that satellite images accessed by a German company had confirmed the presence of iridium in the dome atop its sanctum sanctorum.
They had also said that dealers had offered up to1 crore for the dome. The availability of iridium is 80 times less than that of silver and whose global production is said to be less than three tonnes a year. A very hard, brittle and silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal.
As the news spread, the Department of Archaeology had sent its experts to Pandanad to examine the dome and as people began to stream in from outside, the police had to tighten security measures. The local people and devotees had deployed their own security arrangements at the temple.
As per a court order, a senior scientist from Cochin University of Science and Technology had been entrusted with the task of conducting experiments to find the truth about stories of iridium in the dome. Scientists from the DRDO at Hyderabad had also visited the temple but no confirmation of iridium presence had been made.
The sanctum sanctorum of the Pandanad temple, supposed to be 2,000 years old, was made of stone and wood, and roofed with copper plates. Researchers who visited the temple had said in 2008 that iridium could have been used for making the dome in an indirect manner.
The bud part of the dome that topped the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was found thrust in the mud in the backyard of the nearby house of Sakthikumara Bhattathiri, who was holding the right of rituals at the shrine. Police personnel, including dog squad and finger print experts started examinations in the area.
The 35-cm top bud part of the 80-cm tall dome, which had been attracting hundreds of people from outside the village, including scientists, scholars and antique dealers since stories about iridium in it began to spread in 2008, was noticed to have been missing from atop the sanctum sanctorum on the morning of Thursday.
The dome-part was found from the plot of Bhattathiri just when the police were about to extend the search for its burglars to other parts of the State and outside. There was mystery in the robbery and recovery, said N Narendra Babu, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Chengannur, adding that those responsible would be arrested soon.
Visitors from even outside the State had been flocking to the sleepy village of Pandanad since May, 2008 after the administration committee of the temple claimed that some “outside” dealers had approached them saying that satellite images accessed by a German company had confirmed the presence of iridium in the dome atop its sanctum sanctorum.
They had also said that dealers had offered up to1 crore for the dome. The availability of iridium is 80 times less than that of silver and whose global production is said to be less than three tonnes a year. A very hard, brittle and silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal.
As the news spread, the Department of Archaeology had sent its experts to Pandanad to examine the dome and as people began to stream in from outside, the police had to tighten security measures. The local people and devotees had deployed their own security arrangements at the temple.
As per a court order, a senior scientist from Cochin University of Science and Technology had been entrusted with the task of conducting experiments to find the truth about stories of iridium in the dome. Scientists from the DRDO at Hyderabad had also visited the temple but no confirmation of iridium presence had been made.
The sanctum sanctorum of the Pandanad temple, supposed to be 2,000 years old, was made of stone and wood, and roofed with copper plates. Researchers who visited the temple had said in 2008 that iridium could have been used for making the dome in an indirect manner.
