Padmanabhaswamy Temple History & Old Photos

First records 8th century texts

Rebuilt in stone 1733 by Marthanda Varma

Idol built from 12,008 saligramams

Control restored Supreme Court, 2020

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple complex seen from Padma Theertham, Thiruvananthapuram

The timeline

Twelve centuries of record, in four dates that matter

Most of what visitors want to know sits in these four moments. Everything else is detail hanging off them, and the fourth is the only one that happened inside living memory.

8th century First written mention The Alwar saints praise Ananthapuram in the Divya Prabandham, the earliest surviving record of the shrine.

1733 Rebuilt in stone Marthanda Varma pulls down the older structure and raises the granite temple and seven storey gopuram that stand today.

1750 The Thrippadidanam The king surrenders the whole kingdom of Travancore to the deity and rules on as Padmanabhadasa, servant of the Lord.

2011 to 2020 Vaults and verdict Five of six vaults are inventoried under court order. In 2020 the Supreme Court restores administrative control to the royal family.

1750

The king who gave away an entire kingdom

On 3 January 1750, Marthanda Varma placed his sword before the deity and surrendered Travancore to Sree Padmanabhaswamy. He did not abdicate. He became Padmanabhadasa, the servant who governs on the Lord’s behalf, and every ruler after him took the same title.

From that day the state treasury and the temple treasury were one thing. Tribute, war spoils and trade income flowed to the deity, and none of it was ever taken back out.

1750 Year of the Thrippadidanam

12,008 Saligramams in the idol

18 ft Length of the reclining deity

108 Divya Desams, this is one

Inside the vaults Temple architecture

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple entrance and gopuram at East Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

Record against legend

Some of this is documented, and some of it is a very good story

Both columns matter. The left is what state papers and court records confirm. The right is temple tradition, repeated for centuries and impossible to verify.

What the records confirm

The 1733 rebuilding in granite under Marthanda Varma, recorded in Travancore state papers
The Thrippadidanam of 1750, documented in the royal chronicles
The 2011 vault inventory, carried out under Supreme Court supervision
The 2020 judgment restoring administration to the Travancore royal family

What is temple legend

That the temple was founded by the sage Divakara Muni after a vision of Vishnu
That Vault B is guarded by serpents and cannot be opened without ruin
That the idol was assembled in a single night by 4,000 workmen
That an underground passage runs from the sanctum to the Kuthiramalika Palace

Nothing in the right hand column is dismissed by the temple. These accounts are part of how the shrine understands itself, and the sealed state of Vault B rests on exactly this tradition rather than on any legal barrier.

Gopuram of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple rising above Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

The deity

Twelve thousand stones from a river in Nepal

The reclining figure is about 18 feet long and is not carved from a single block. It is assembled from 12,008 saligramams, fossil stones collected from the bed of the Gandaki river in Nepal and carried south by elephant.

They are bound with katusarkara yogam, a hard plaster of herbs and ayurvedic materials containing no metal. Because of that binding the idol is never bathed with water. It is anointed instead, which is why the Abhishekam that closes the sanctum at 4:45 AM runs for nearly two hours.

Ananthasayanam posture, reclining on the coiled serpent Anantha
The right hand rests over a Shiva lingam, so two gods share one figure
Brahma rises on a lotus from the navel, completing the three
Sridevi and Bhudevi stand at the feet with the sages Bhrigu and Markandeya

Darshan timings Architecture

Old photographs

Padmanabhaswamy Temple photos from a century ago

Photography is not allowed past the entrance today, so the archive is what survives. These images are in the public domain or freely licensed, and show the temple much as it looks now. The gopuram, the tank and the crowd at the gate have barely changed in a century.

Old photograph of Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Padma Theertham tank, Thiruvananthapuram

Around 1900 The oldest surviving view A photograph of the temple and tank taken before the gopuram repairs of the twentieth century.

Historic view of the seven storey gopuram at Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Colonial era The gopuram from the west An early view showing the seven storey gopuram raised under Marthanda Varma in the 1730s.

Devotees gathered outside the entrance of Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the early twentieth century

Early 1900s Devotees at the gate Visitors outside the East Fort entrance, in the mundu and bare chested dress still required today.

Padmanabhaswamy Temple lit with oil lamps during Lakshadeepam, Thiruvananthapuram

Lakshadeepam One hundred thousand lamps The temple lit for Lakshadeepam, a festival held once every six years after fifty six days of recitation.

In detail

How a shrine in Ananthapuram became the wealthiest temple on earth

The short version is one king and one decision. The longer version runs through four stages, each of which added something the next one built on.

Before the kingdom

The Alwar saints name Ananthapuram in the Divya Prabandham, placing an active shrine here by the 8th century.
The town takes its name from the deity. Thiruvananthapuram means the town of Anantha, the serpent the deity reclines on.
Earlier structures were timber and laterite. Nothing of them survives above ground.
Records from the Ay dynasty and later the Venad rulers show continuous patronage long before Travancore existed as a kingdom.

Marthanda Varma rebuilds

Between 1729 and 1733 the temple is rebuilt in granite, with the seven storey gopuram and the corridor of carved pillars.
The Padma Theertham tank in front of the temple is cut at the same time.
The idol is reconsecrated using the saligramams brought from the Gandaki river.
The Ottakkal Mandapam, a hall cut from a single slab of granite, is laid in front of the sanctum during the same works.

The wealth accumulates

After the Thrippadidanam of 1750 there is no line between state income and temple property. Tribute from conquered territories, revenue from the pepper trade and offerings from ruling houses across the south all go into the vaults beneath the sanctum.

Critically, nothing comes back out. Travancore never melted temple gold to fund a war or a famine, and the store simply compounds for two hundred years.

Why the three doors exist

The composition is the reason the sanctum has three doors rather than one. A viewer at any single door sees roughly a third of the idol, and the temple has never allowed the whole figure to be seen or photographed at once.

Devotees walk the three in order, face then navel then feet, and the sequence is treated as part of the darshan rather than a limitation of the building.

The modern dispute

A 2011 petition asks who legally controls the temple and its assets. Five vaults are opened and catalogued under court supervision, and the totals make headlines worldwide.

In 2020 the Supreme Court settles it, restoring administration to the Travancore royal family under a trust answerable to the court. Vault B is left exactly as it was.

Common questions

Padmanabhaswamy Temple history, answered

Ten questions on how old the temple is, who built it, what the idol is made of and what the 2020 verdict actually decided. Each answer is short enough to read before you reach the gate.

How old is Padmanabhaswamy Temple?

The shrine is referenced in Tamil texts from around the 8th century, which makes the site at least 1,200 years old. The building you see now is much younger. Marthanda Varma pulled down the older structure and rebuilt it in granite in 1733, adding the seven storey gopuram.

Who built Padmanabhaswamy Temple?

The present temple was built by Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, founder of the kingdom of Travancore, between 1729 and 1733. Earlier structures existed on the same site for centuries before that, and temple tradition credits the original founding to the sage Divakara Muni.

What is the Thrippadidanam?

In 1750 Marthanda Varma formally surrendered the entire kingdom of Travancore to Sree Padmanabhaswamy. He and every ruler after him governed as Padmanabhadasa, servant of the Lord, holding the state in trust for the deity. It is the reason the temple accumulated the wealth it did.

What is the idol made of?

The reclining deity is roughly 18 feet long and built from 12,008 saligramams, sacred stones brought from the bed of the Gandaki river in Nepal. They are held together with a plaster called katusarkara yogam, made from herbs and ayurvedic materials rather than metal or cement.

Why is the deity shown through three doors?

The idol is too long to be viewed at once. The sanctum has three doors, and each shows one part: the face and the Shiva lingam through the first, the navel with Brahma on a lotus through the second, and the lotus feet through the third.

What did the Supreme Court decide in 2020?

The court restored administrative control of the temple to the Travancore royal family, overturning a 2011 Kerala High Court order that would have handed management to the state government. Vault B was left sealed and untouched by the judgment.

Is the temple one of the 108 Divya Desams?

Yes. It is counted among the 108 Divya Desams, the abodes of Vishnu praised in the hymns of the Alwar saints. It is the only one of them whose deity gave a state its name, since Thiruvananthapuram means the town of Anantha.

Are there old photographs of the temple?

Yes. Photographs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries survive and show the gopuram, the Padma Theertham tank and devotees at the East Fort entrance. Several are in the public domain and appear in the gallery on this page.

Can I photograph the temple today?

Not inside. Cameras and phones are left at the cloakroom near the gate and nothing may be photographed beyond the entrance. A paid permit allows photography in the outer area only, and the sanctum is never photographed.

Who manages the temple now?

A trust headed by the Travancore royal family, under a framework set by the Supreme Court in 2020. An administrative committee handles daily operations and an advisory committee oversees finance, with both answerable to the court.

Everything on this page has a practical consequence, from the two hour Abhishekam to the dress code that has not changed since Marthanda Varma’s time.

A kingdom was handed over here, and never taken back

That one act in 1750 is the reason six vaults sit under the sanctum and one of them has never been opened.

Inside Vault B Visitor guide

Padmanabhaswamy Temple history, from the Alwars to the Supreme Court