New Delhi: The staggering wealth discovered inside the secret vault of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvanathapuram has brought back images of wealth of Indian shrines. An ancient tradition of making donations to the temples has meant that these temples are flush with wealth. There are few famous temples that are not only highly religious but one of the richest temples in India. Take a look at some of the richest Indian shrines: Padmanabhaswamy Temple Recently treasures worth $20 billion were found in Padmanabhaswamy temple, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Six vaults piled with gold and jewels have been discovered in the temple that belonged to Travancore royalty. There were sacks of diamonds and tonnes of gold coins and jewellery that were lying untouched for hundreds of years. This makes the temple the richest in India. Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara Temple Commonly known as Tirupati temple, this is the second richest pilgrim located at Andhra Pradesh. More than 60,000 devotees visit this temple every day and treasures of more than Rs 650 crore is stored in the temple. This brings this temple under the list of richest temples of India. Shirdi Saibaba shrine Shrine to Saibaba, the Shirdi temple is the third richest in India. It sees millions of devotees from different religions and castes everyday. The temple has gold and silver jewellery worth approximately Rs 32 crore and silver coins worth more than Rs 6 lakh. The temple gets donations worth Rs 350 crore every year. Mata Vaishno Devi shrine Mata Vaishno Devi is not only one of the oldest, but richest temples of India. Millions of devotees visit this shrine to take the blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi. An estimate income of Rs 500 crore is collected every year. Siddhivinayak Temple, Mumbai This is another richest temple in India. It is not just a place for Bollywood celebrities to seek blessings but devotees around the world visit this Lord Ganesha temple. The dome over the temple is coated with 3.7 kilograms of gold that was donated by a Kolkata based businessman. Harmandir Sahib or Golden Temple, Amritsar The most popular Sikh shrine is another richest temples in India. The canopy is made with gold and silver. The ‘Adi Granth' (Guru Granth Sahib) is studded with precious stones, diamonds and gems. Somnath Temple, Gujarat Even after being destructed many times, the Jyotirlinga is one of the places of spiritual pilgrimage of India. Meenakshi Temple, Madurai The historic Parvati temple in Madurai is famous in Tamil Nadu and another richest temple in India. Jagannath temple, Puri One of the oldest and richest temples of Lord Jagannath is located in the coastal town of Puri, Odisha.It has several thousands of acres of land donated by former landlords and kings. However the temple's daily collection is on the lower side. Kashi Vishwanath temple, Varanasi Located in Varanasi, this is one of the most popular, oldest and richest temples of Lord Shiva in India. Thousands of pilgrims turn up to pay obeisance every day, but the temple's daily collection is not much compared to other rich Indian temples.
