n the olden days, people left their homes unlocked. Not only did they trust strangers, but they treated them as very dear guests. Eventually, when they started bartering their goods, they became protective over their material possessions. More so, when the monetary system emerged, the division between rich and poor became wider and thefts began to increase to satisfy the needs of the poor. Hence various forms of safety came into existence.

Much before the advent of cupboards, that later evolved into bureaus and safe lockers, in India, in the days of the Emperor of Annam, goods and valuables were sealed into large blocks of wood which were placed on small islands or submerged into surrounding pool of the inner courts of the palace. Here, they were protected by the royal “guardian angels”, a number of crocodiles kept in starvation, so they were always hungry. To venture into the water meant certain death for the intruder. The legitimate approach to the treasure was to drug or kill the crocodiles. Eventually this form of protection became troublesome. It was then, when craftsmen of priestly families engaged in the art of making locks. The first all-metal lock appeared between the years 870 and 900. This metal lock, exhibited here, is one of the earliest creations of these craftsmen.

This lock had been so intelligently designed, for when it is locked, opening it without the key, can be an impossible task. Since then, locks became an art by itself. There were puzzle padlocks that were oriental, with three to seven rings of characters or letters, which released the grasp when properly designed. And was used for a faithful bank vault at one time in the U.S. Treasury Department, patented in 1862 by Dodds, Macneal and Urban of Canton, Ohio. The operating dial is a combination of letters and numbers and affords 1,073,741,824 combinations. To run through them all without interruption would take 2,042 years, 324 days, and 1 hour. This metal lock exhibited here, has been sourced out from this ‘Poomphuhar’, a historic town near Kumbakonam and is exhibited at INDeco’s Lake Forest Hotel in Yercaud.