That was my thought as wellSathish. And incidentally, this is happening in IndependantIndia. Eventhe invaders, aftercertain period, started protecting the same.But now.........
I feel that, itis simply the commercialisation of the temples, for the monetary gains that the politicians get, which gets us to this kind of situation. I mean, they are onlybothered about the locations in a temple which yields money and simply nothing else. They are just left to decay. Take any big temple complex for example, like Chidambaram, Thiruppullaani,etc... there are some locationsin the temple, which are left to rot. Yes, literally rot. Noattention to those places.Because there is no funds generated out of those locations.
Let me put it straight. Temples have tobe out of Politicians control for them to thrive. Period.
I am not denying your pointhere. Butdo we have recordsto prove that people who lived 50-60 yearsago were all truelovers of art and hence they preserved it well? Not to my knowledge. But for sure, we can assume that those who took care of those temples were kindenough to preserve these treasures well. They themselveswould have been art loveror may be not.This is why it thrived in older days but notnow.The present day problem is compounded one. The ignorance of common man to these treasures, combined with the money minded politicians who run the temple now for whom treasures, if they are not going to fetch any return, is of no use.