The Padmanabhaswamy treasure

The richest treasure ever found in one place. In 2011, on court order, officials opened long-sealed vaults beneath the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala, India, and found a hoard beyond imagining: gold coins by the sack, a solid-gold idol, chains, gems, tons of gold and silver, estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, accumulated as offerings over centuries by the kings who ruled in the deity’s name. One final vault, Vault B, guarded by carved serpents, remains sealed by court order amid warnings of misfortune, its contents unknown. Real, documented, and partly still a mystery.