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On November 13, 1958 when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was informed by one Mangaldas Pakvasa about the grave issue of stealing of gold, silver and massive amount of cash from the 18th century Shrinathji temple of Nathdwara in Rajasthan by its custodian, one Maharaja, he swiftly responded by calling the heist as robbery.

He did so in a letter addressed to the then Chief Minister of the State Mohanlal Sukhadia and Union home minister G.B. Pant to take strict measures to remedy the problem.

In that letter, Nehru charged that Maharaj’s action in secretly taking away those valuables, constituted misappropriation of public funds and observed that he got away with that act of embezzlement because of slackness adopted in handling that serious matter and sadly noted that the Maharaj took objection to the enquiry committee, consisting of chief justice K.N. Wanchoo, appointed by Rajasthan government and so the committee never functioned. 

“To allow this kind of thing to happen,” Nehru remarked, “brings no credit to our governments.”

He described the whole arrangement of the functioning of Nathdwara temple as completely defective and wondered, “How any man of religion can tolerate such arrangements.”

Nehru proceeded to observe, “The Mahant or Maharaj ….is apparently a person as far removed from religion or spirituality or decent honest living and behaviour as anything can be.”

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He then sharply remarked, “It is improper for public sentiment to be exploited for the greed and cupidity of individuals….” 

Asking the question, “To what good purpose is the income from Nathdwara temple being utilised?”

Nehru answered, “Chiefly, I imagine, for political purposes. This cannot be allowed to continue and you must take urgent steps to put matters right.” 

Adding further and with all seriousness, he forcefully........

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