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Two episodes from Indian history stir deep frustration—and rightly so:
- Vijayanagara Empire’s Sealed Treasury
After Krishnadevaraya’s glorious reign in the early 1500s, the empire’s treasury—accumulated through decades of prosperity—was locked away for “emergency use.”
But when real crisis hit:
- His successor Achyuta Deva Raya faced rebellion and court intrigue.
- The Battle of Talikota in 1565 devastated Vijayanagara.
- The treasure was either destroyed in panic or looted by Deccan sultanates.
This legendary treasure, instead of defending the state or aiding the people, became spoils for invaders.
- Padmanabhaswamy Temple Vaults, Thiruvananthapuram
In the 2010s, a hidden trove beneath this Kerala temple revealed over ₹1.5 lakh crore worth of gold, gems, and rare artefacts—accumulated over centuries by royals and devotees.
And yet:
- Not a rupee has gone toward public good—not during floods, not during pandemics.
- Legal wrangling and religious sentiment have kept it locked away.
- This treasure serves as a monument to hoarded wealth, while people outside still struggle for drinking water, jobs, and housing.
The Irony: Hoarded Wealth Invited Bloodshed
This cultural tendency to stash wealth became India’s biggest strategic vulnerability.
India was raided more for its vaults than for its soil.
- Mahmud of Ghazni invaded India 17 times—drawn by temple wealth.
- Nadir Shah’s 1739 massacre of Delhi was fueled by treasure lust—including the Kohinoor and Peacock Throne.
- The British Empire, too, slowly siphoned off India’s riches—not created but accumulated over centuries in idle piles.
Hoarded wealth didn’t protect India—it exposed her. The Deeper Problem: Glorifying Hoarding as Prudence
India often treats treasure vaults as holy:
- Kings and merchants donated wealth to temples “for God,” not for society.
- Expenditure on defense, education, science, or irrigation was rare or secondary.
- Cultural norms praised stillness in gold, not movement in knowledge.
Even today, we admire ancient vaults instead of condemning them for wasteful idleness.
The Real Heroes: Builders, Not Hoarders
Contrast this with the Kakatiya kings of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (12th–14th century CE):
- They built thousands of water tanks and irrigation structures, many still in use across villages today.
- These included cheruvus, kuntas, and bandhas—ranging from small community ponds to massive reservoirs.
- These systems helped harvest rainwater, recharge groundwater, and irrigate fields—even 800 years later.
In fact, no other region in the world matches the sheer number of sustainable, decentralized irrigation systems still working today:
- Not the Persian qanats,
- Not the Roman aqueducts,
- Not the Moroccan or Yemeni water tunnels,
- Not even the famed Nazca and Incan channels of South America.
The Kakatiyas were numero uno in combining engineering genius with people-centric policy.
Their legacy proves:
A well-dug tank outlives a gold vault.
A village irrigated feeds generations. A treasure sealed feeds none.
Final Word
India must stop praising kings and custodians who hoarded gold while people starved, kingdoms fell, and knowledge stagnated.
Let us instead honour those who:
- Built tanks and canals.
- Founded schools and temples of learning.
- Strengthened borders and fed farmers.
Because wealth that sleeps invites plunder,
But wealth that flows defends civilisation.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.