RAYALU DONATED ORNAMENTS TO TTD REMAIN UNTRACED

Even as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams claim that Lord Venkateswara’s jewellery are safe and secure in the temple, precious ornaments donated by Vijayanagara emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya, Pratapa Rudra and others remain untraced.

Back in 2010, Eluru-based social activist B.K.S.R. Ayyangar filed an RTI application seeking details of ornaments donated by Sri Krishnadevaraya and others.

In reply, the TTD authorities at that time said that there were jewels of earlier centuries but expressed their inability to confirm which were donated by which king as the information was not available in the temple treasury records.

However, they mentioned in their reply, that there were records of some jewels and their donors.

They also informed that they will seek the help of state archaeology authorities to identify the jewels.

Subsequently, a team of officers from state archaeology department visited the temple and inspected the ornaments for nearly 20 days.

When the activist approached the state archaeology authorities through an RTI query seeking their findings, the authorities responded by saying that the ornaments with the description of their size, weight, shape and others found in the inscriptions on walls of temple were not tallying with that of the ornaments secured in the temple treasury, indicating that the ornaments are either non-existing or reshaped or lifted.