Holy Indiana Jones!

Over $20B in Treasure Discovered in Centuries-Old Hindu Temple

Sacks of diamonds? Check. Tens of billions worth of buried treasure? Check. Secret vaults beneath temple floors? Check. An amazing story to rival the movies? You bet ... and it's absolutely real.

A fierce debate is brewing about what to do with the tens of billions of dollars worth of treasures just discovered in a popular 16th-century Hindu temple in southern India -- even as the trove of newly revealed riches continues growing.

Inside the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, investigators were counting the staggering hoard of gold coins and statues of gods and goddesses studded with diamonds and other precious stones. Outside, small groups of armed policemen patrolled the temple grounds in the heart of the Kerala state capital, Trivandrum.

The unforeseen riches instantly turned the temple into one of India's wealthiest religious institutions and have sparked a debate on what to do with the treasure. An initial estimate, when the inventory began, put the trove value at $22 billion. But given that the work is ongoing and so many items are centuries-old antiques, that estimate is likely very low.

The secret vaults were opened and the treasures inventoried after a lawyer went to court with doubts about temple security. Five vaults have been opened so far, and a sixth was still yet to be inventoried.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/05/billions-in-treasure-discovered-in-centuries-old-hindu-temple/?test=latestnews