By London Swaminathan
Post No. 962 Dated 7th April 2014
Recently Indian news papers reported a big search for gold hidden under a temple site near Lucknow on the banks of River Ganga. This started after a Hindu saint reported a dream where he thought the golden treasure of a king was buried. When his disciple reported another dream more temple sites were searched for gold. But nothing was found and all the searches came to an abrupt end after ten days. It attracted huge publicity in foreign media. Ancient Tamil literature gives some interesting information about gold under Ganges River and another place in Tamil Nadu!
Finding gold under the ground in India is nothing new and nothing unusual. There is a proverb in Tamil “Tamils spoiled themselves by burying (gold)”= Tamilan Puthaiththu kettaan in Tamil. To escape from thieves and invaders they did this in the olden days. Still we find gold coins under the ground; most of them go unreported. Most of the Roman gold coins were discovered in South India and most of the Gupta gold coins were recovered in North India. All these are tip of an iceberg. Due to lack of historic knowledge and lack of knowledge about antique values they were melted the very next minute. Tamil and Sanskrit literatures boast in hundreds of verses that the golden Simhasana (throne) steps under the feet of the present king came from the crowns of the kings he conquered. This is in ancient Sangam Tamil verses and Kalidasa’s works! Just to insult the defeated kings, the victorious kings melted the crowns and thrones of the defeated kings and put them under their feet!!!
Vidyaranya found Golden Treasure!
Kanchi Paramacharya in his Madras Discourses (1957-1959) gives the story of Vidyaranya’s discovery of gold and using it for establishing Vijayanagara Empire. Born as Madhava in a village in Karnataka he prayed to Goddess Makalakshmi, Goddess of Wealth, for enormous amount of wealth. Lakshmi appeared before him and told him that he can’t enjoy wealth in this birth but it was possible for him to get it in the next birth. An idea flashed in his mind immediately. He told Goddess Lakshmi that he would take Sanyas ( Renunciation) which is considered a ‘second birth’ for a Hindu. Lakshmi agreed and gave him tons of gold. As soon as he saw rocks of gold and hills of gold he wept loudly. He knew that sanyas (renunciation ) means no attachment to anything worldly. “Oh My God, What Have I done? How can I touch gold when I have become a Sanyasi (an ascetic)”, he cried. Goddess Lakshmi disappeared while he was wondering what to do next.
At that time of hsitroy in 14th century AD, Muslim forces invaded South India and destroyed most of the temples along its routes. Madhava, who was later known as Vidyaranya, called two goatherds Harihara and Bhukka and asked them to build a city at the chosen place at the appointed auspicious time. Both of them did it and utilised the entire gold to establish a mighty and wealthy Hindu empire—later known as Vijaya Nagara Samrajya.
This was told by Kanchi Paramacharya and he concluded his lecture by adding how Vijayanagara king Kampanna Udayar invaded Madurai and finished Muslim rule and re-established Hinduism in the southern countries. Gangadevi, a wise woman and queen of the great Kampanna Udayar accompanied him all along her husband’s invasion route and reported everything she saw in Sanskrit verses like a war correspondent! The book ‘Madura Vijayam’ is available now.
There is another story about Sri Vidyaranya, who later became Jagadguru of Sringeri Mutt, about making gold shower in the lands of Vijayanagara Empire. When there was a draught, Harihara and Bhukka approached Vidyaranya swami for help. He prayed to goddess Lakshmi again and there was a shower of gold in the capital city.
Picture of Gupta Gold Coins
Leaving all the exaggeration out in the above anecdotes we can see one fact very clearly. Sri Vidyaranya got huge quantity of gold through his divine power. So we can boldly call him a Golden Swamiji!
Gold in Tamil Literature
Tamil poet Mamulanar who lived 2000 years ago in Tamil Nadu always referred to some places in North India. Next to Paranar, he gave us lot of information about North India. Since he sang about Nandas and Mauryas he was considered one of the oldest Tamil poets of Sangam age. He gave us detailed description of Mauryan invasion of Tamil Nadu and how they laid ‘pukka’ roads to facilitate their mighty chariots to roll down smoothly.
In the Aga Nanuru verses 251 and 265 he describes the treasure (gold and gems) that was hidden in a tunnel under the River Ganges. Later the treasure (gold)) disappeared. He puts it through the mouths of heroine and her friend in two poems. In verse 265, the heroine first describes the beautiful Himalayas with its peaks under smoky clouds. In the next few lines she describes the gold and gems hidden in a tunnel in Pataliputra under river Ganges. She wondered why her husband left her longing in separation. It may be due to something very important things like the Ganges treasure (Nidhi) the golden Himalayas.Mamulanar used the Sanskrit word Nidhi(am) for this treasure.
In verse 251 the poet refers to Nanda’s wealth (Tamil word verukkai). The old commentators said it was the wealth of Maha padmananda. So we came to know that Mahapadma Nanda (345-329 BC) had huge wealth and one of the Nanda kings made a tunnel under Pataliputra to hide the gold. Can we find it? We know that it is like finding a needle in a haystack!
It is very interesting to see the mention of Pataliputra (now known as Patna, capital of Bihar), Ganga, Nanda and gold in the oldest part of Tamil literature. It shows how old Tamil literature is!
Velir Gold in Pazi
In another verse (Aga Nanuru 258 ) poet Paranar sang about the gold amassed in the Pazis of Velir tribes. Nannan Uthiyan was a chieftain. He had kept all his gold of the ancient Velir tribes under tight security, says Poet Paranar. The hero compares that gold to the hardship he was undergoing to see his lady love. ‘Meeting my lady is more difficult than getting the gold secured by the Velirs in Pazi famous for its tight security!’ ,he wonders.
Gold Coin of Raja Raja Choza
Tamils have sung about the gold in the Karnataka –Tamil Nadu border. It was the area that supplied gold to the South Indians in those days. The recent discovery of huge amount of treasure in Padmanabha swamy temple of Tiruvanathapuram (Kerala) explains the wealth of this area.
I have already explained it in my six part article Indiahhhhhhhhhhh….The Richest Country in the World (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Contact swami_48@yahoo.com
Golden Tower of Tirumala Balaji Temple.
Tamil and Vedas 
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