Thrissur (Ker) | The huge collection of silver articles at the centuries-old Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple here will soon turn into gold! No, it's not any magic or miracle but a constructive plan by the temple management body to productively utilise the assets left unused in the shrine for years.
Tonnes of silver articles including ornaments, utensils and other such things, offered at the shrine by devotees, have been kept in a room at the shrine campus for years, sources said.
Guruvayur Devaswom, the shrine management body, has now entered into an agreement with the India Government Mint at Hyderabad to convert over five tonnes of silver articles in its stock into silver bars.
At the Mint, the silver articles would be purified before being converted them into the form of bars.
These silver bars would be transferred to the India Government Mint in Mumbai later and buy gold bars equal to its weight, a top Devaswom official said.
The gold bars would be deposited at the SBI's bullion branch in Mumbai, he said detailing the plan.
"As per the Devaswom's decision, the temple administrator entered into an agreement with the Mint in Hyderabad the other day," the top Devaswom official told PTI.
At the Mint, the silver articles would be purified before converting them into bars.
Usually, pure silver would be only 60 per cent in the articles, he added.
A portion of gold articles in the temple's repository was also converted into gold bars recently and deposited in a similarly manner, he further said.
The shrine has received Rs six crore as interest in this regard, he added.
The Devaswom has been thinking about practical and constructive ways to make use of the silver stock for some time and finally zeroed in on this plan, the official added.
The Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple had recently revealed details of bank deposits to the tune of over Rs 1,700 crore and also declared that it has over 260 kg of gold in stock.
In an RTI reply, the authorities of the temple said it had 263.637 kg of gold comprising precious stones and coins, and nearly 20,000 gold lockets.
The centuries-old shrine, where Lord Vishnu is worshipped as Krishna, attracts thousands of people from across the country every year.
