Tag: one of the world’s richest places of worship

FIA Officers Administered Oath of Office Virtually By Consul General Randhir Kumar Jaiswal

Staff ReporterCommunity, India 0

The new Board of Trustees of the Federation of Indian Association of NY, NJ, CT (FIA Tristate) led by Chairman Ankur Vai was sworn-in in a virtual oath ceremony by the new Consul General of India in New York, Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, barely a few hours after he arrived in New York on on July 19, 2020.

Vaidya is joined by Bipin Patel, as vice chairman and Jayesh Patel as the general secretary.  The current Board also consists of distinguished community stalwarts including Rambhai Gadhavi, Chandrakant Trivedi, Prabir Roy, Dr. Parvin Pandhi, Andy Bhatia, Srujal Parikh, Anand Patel, Dipak Patel and Kanubhai Chauhan. Longtime veteran community leader, Albert Jasani of Royal Alberts Palace serves as the Unifying-Unity Trustee of the group, along with Yash Paul Soi as Emeritus Vice Chairman for FIA’s Golden Jubilee Year.

Speaking as a newly sworn-in Chairman, Vaidya welcomed the new Consul General, announced his brief accomplishments and expressed his surprise and gratitude for Jaiswal to hit the ground running and sending a positive message to the Indian American community.

Prior to being appointed the Consul General of India in New York, Jaiswal was the Joint Secretary-cum-Social Secretary to the President of India Ramnath Kovind. A 1998 Indian Foreign Service officer, Jaiswal headed the foreign affairs office of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and advised the President on India’s foreign policy. Prior to that he served as the Consul General of India in Johannesburg in South Africa. He has also worked as a Counselor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

During a special meeting attended by FIA President Anil Bansal, Secretary Parveen Bansal, and 14 out of the 16 current Board members, immediately after the sudden passing away of its long time Chairman of the Board, Ramesh Patel, Mr. Vaidya was elected Chairman of FIA, the largest Indian American organization. Established in 1970, the FIA of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut is one of the largest umbrella organizations in the Indian community. It represents over 500,000 strong and vibrant Asian-Indians who provide significant grass root support.

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple will be run by the Indian royal family: SC Royal dynasty wins right to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple – one of the world’s richest places of worship

Staff ReporterCommunity, India 0

India’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the right of a former royal dynasty to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the world’s richest places of worship, after the state government tried to take it over when the family patriarch died. The historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, India. The temple which is more than 260 years old recently came into the spotlight after gold coins and precious

When one of the vaults of the towering centuries-old Hindu temple in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state was opened in 2011, it was found to hold diamonds by the sackful along with tonnes of gold coins and jewellery – a hoard estimated at more than $20 Billion.

Several Hindu temples in India have wealth running to the billions of dollars as devotees give gold and other precious objects as gifts to spiritual or religious institutions that run hospitals, schools and colleges.

“We allow the appeal of the royal family of Travancore. Death does not effect Shebaitship (management and maintenance of the deity) of the Travancore Family,” justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra said in their order. The Supreme Court upheld the right of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore as the custodian of the properties belonging to the deity of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, overruling a 2011 Kerala High Court judgment that the state government take control of the temple and its vast riches. The SC had in 2011 stayed the High Court ruling and ordered an assessment of the temple’s wealth. Following this, jewellery, coins and precious stones with a nominal value of Rs 1 lakh crore were discovered after one of the six kallaras, or vaults, was opened to public audit for the first time. The history: The centuries-old temple complex is an eclectic mix of Dravidian and classic Kerala architecture. Its definite age is not known — perhaps 6th or even 3rd century — but the structure we see today is the result of a renovation undertaken during the reign of Anizhom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, between 1729 and 1758 CE. In 1750, the king surrendered his kingdom and the wealth to the deity. After India became a republic, the administration of the temple was vested in a trust under a 1949 agreement of the accession between the then ruler, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, and Govt of India. About the vaults: The temple has six vaults. Four of these are periodically opened as per rituals. Vaults A and B are said to have not been opened for centuries. In 2011, the SC ordered they be for “making an inventory of the articles and then closed”. Vault A was opened, but the royal family opposed the opening of Vault B, saying it would disturb the spiritual energy and bring ill-fortune.About the rights: In 2007, a lawsuit by devotees alleged mismanagement by the trust and challenged the right of Utradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the younger brother of Chithira Thirunal, who died in 1991. In 2011, Kerala High Court ruled that the state has the administrative right over the temple since the 26th amendment of the constitution, 1971, had abolished privy purses and privileges of erstwhile rulers of princely states. The apex court’s latest ruling said the royal family’s shebaitship survives the death of the ruler. But it directed the formation of a committee, with Thiruvananthapuram district judge as the chairperson, to administer the temple. A nominee of the trustee (the family), the chief priest, a nominee of the state and a nominee of the Union ministry of culture would be the other members. An advisory committee headed by a retired High Court judge will also be set up. SC did not rule on the vaults, leaving the decision to the committees.

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