Summary:
Kochi, Sep 18 (PTI) The debate over whether Kerala can afford the whopping budget of the proposed Silver Line semi high speed rail corridor is yet to die down, but the state government has made it clear that they will go ahead with the multi-crore project anyway.
Not just now, the massive budget of an infrastructure project had even left a royalty worried here a century ago and the visionary king had generated funds by disposing of the gold caparisons of his palace elephants to turn his big dream into reality.
When the first ever passenger train whistled its way to Kochi on July 6, 1902 through the newly built Shoranur-Cochin railway line, it was the result of sheer hard work and pains taken by the king, who had dreamt of seeing a train chugging into his princely state.
The progressive king was none other than Rama Varma XV, the then Maharaja of Cochin, who was said to have been mocked at even by the Britishers when he approached them with the proposal of a railway line connecting his tiny kingdom with Shoranur, which shared border with the then princely state of Malabar ruled by the English collector.
The Britishers did not take the King and his proposal seriously as they believed that a princely state like Cochin could not afford the budget of the railway line construction that would run into lakhs of rupees during the late 19th century.
But, Varma had stunned the Europeans by raising adequate amount by selling 14 of the 15 "thanga nettippattams" (gold caparsions) of the palace jumbos kept at the famed Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple at Tripunithura here, according to a souvenir published by the Kochi City Corporation.
Sree Poornathrayeesa was the family deity of the erstwhile Cochin royals.
The determined "Raja" (king) also sold the jewellery of some nearby temples and donated the monetary reserves of the palace to make the railway line a reality.
"There was a railway line from Madras to Shoranur during that time.
The people of Cochin also loved to hear the whistles of the train.
But, what to do? There was no money," said an article in the souvenir, brought out over two decades ago.
The souvenir said the Maharaja of Cochin, who had always given prominence to the welfare of the people, came up with a solution for the paucity of funds.
"The Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple had 15 thanga nettippattams (gold caparisons) during the time.
Of them, 14 caparisons, jewels of some nearby temples and the palace money were used for the railway line.
Thus, the first "kari vandi" (steam train) reached Ernakulam with passengers on July 6, 1902," it said.
The old railway station of Kochi had come up in a place between the High Court building and the Tata oil mill later, the book added.
Eminent historian M G Sasibhooshan said the construction of the railway line had demanded huge investment and Kochi"s treasury could not afford it.
Compensation had to be given for the acquisition of land for laying of railway tracks and that was the responsibility of the state, he said.
"The accommodation of workers also had to be managed by the princely state itself...There were many such provisions in the agreement which he had signed with the Britishers.
To meet all those demands, the king had sold 14 of the total 15 gold caparisons at the temple," he told PTI.
In his biography "Sir Sri Rama Varma Rajarshi", compiled by his grandson I.K.K Menon, it was stated that the king had given Rs 50 lakh to make the railway line a reality without mentioning about the caparison episode.
"King Rama Varma XV was actually an unsung hero.