A Kerala man found a treasure will tilling a plot of land he bought from Rs 6 crore lottery he won last year. | Representative image | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala man found a treasure on land he bought from Rs 6 crore Christmas bumper lottery he won last year. Rathnakaran Pillai (66), a resident of Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram, decided to use a part of his lottery win to buy land to grow vegetables.

Pillai bought a piece of fertile land near his house. The land is next to an old Krishna temple, known as Thirupalkadal Sri Krishna Swami Kshethram.

When Pillai was tilling the plot on Tuesday to sow maricheeni or tapioca, he found an earthen pot below the soft top toil. "Inside this were thousands of copper coins which I later realised were ancient currency from the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore," Pillai told The News Minute.

There were a total of 2,595 ancient coins, weighing 20.4 kilogram, in the pot. Though the coins had oxidised, all of them were identified to be from the time of two Maharajas of Travancore- Sree Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma, who ruled from 1885 to 1924 and Sree Chithira Thirunal Bala Rama Varma, who ruled from 1924 to 1949 and was the titular Maharaja of the kingdom till 1991.

RELATED NEWS Woman finds 3.72-carat diamond while watching video on how to find diamonds at Arkansas state park

Pillai informed the police about the finding after which the coins were handed over to the State Archaeology Department.

The ancient coinage system in Travancore was known as Fanam.

The exact value of the coins is yet to be ascertained. "The treasure has been sent to a Regional Conservation Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram where they will be cleaned. Most of the coins have oxidised and the copper oxide which looks green and is stuck to the surface has to be removed. After this, they will be sent to an expert panel for valuation," Rajesh Kumar R, the artist superintendent of the Archaeology Department, said.

Pillai said that there is a possibility that the original owner of the coins could be an ancient healer who lived near the temple years ago.

Though Pillai would not get to keep the treasure as it is of historical importance, Rajesh said that the government would announce a fitting amount proportionate to the worth of the coins as compensation for handing it over to the authorities.