Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham head Jayendrar Saraswathi passes away
The 69th head of Kanchi Sankara Mutt, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, regarded as one of the most influential Hindu spiritual leaders of his time who opened the mutt from being an exclusive spiritual centre to one that engages in other activities, including expanding its business and service activities, died on Wednesday. He was 83.
While his arrest, and subsequent acquittal, over an alleged role in the 2004 murder of A Sankararaman, manager of Varadharajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram, made him a controversial pontiff towards the end, Jayendra will also be remembered for efforts to popularise the mutt after the death of his predecessor, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi.
Sankararaman, who was murdered, had fought many cases and raised allegations against the Kanchi mutt and acharyas.
Read | Who was Sri Jayendra Saraswathi?
Another controversial incident was Jayendra’s mysterious disappearance from the mutt in 1988.
After Jayendra’s death, ‘bala periyava’ (junior pontiff), Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, has become the head of Kanchi mutt. Vijayendra had recently kicked up a row by not standing when the Tamil anthem was played during an event organised by BJP leader H Raja.
Tweeting an old picture with Jayendra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he was at the forefront of innumerable community initiatives. “He nurtured institutions which transformed the lives of the poor and downtrodden,” Modi posted.
Born in Irulneekki, in Thanjavur, Jayendra completed his education from Trichy along with late DMK leader Murasoli Maran, former Union minister, five-time Lok Sabha MP and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s nephew.
Having taken over the mutt’s responsibility after Chandrasekharendra’s death in 1994, Jayendra followed his predecessor’s orthodox views on caste and gender but, unlike him, was never a staunch advocate of secularism nor a critic of communalism.
Jayendra, who is seen to have increased business and service establishments of the mutt management, was also known for his proximity to politicians and leaders, especially those of the BJP, RSS and VHP, apart from late AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, until they fell out in 2004.
Besides Jayendra’s public statements blaming Jayalalithaa in 2004, a reason that reportedly spoiled their camaraderie was the conflict of interest in mutt’s decision to buy a private hospital from a group of NRIs in Chennai. The same year, the Jayalalithaa government arrested Jayendra as the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case. The arrest was touted as a daring political act by Jayalalithaa, challenging powers wielded by caste Hindus. He was acquitted in the case.
At a time when he wielded a lot of power power in the management of temples in Tamil Nadu, Jayendra also launched charity efforts such as ‘Jana Kalyan, Jana Jagaran,’ a movement to “serve the people and awaken the masses”, modelled on the missionary style. The charity programme worked among people of the slums with a larger plan to establish temples in Dalit colonies and engage Dalits in temple rituals to expand the Hindu collective beyond the Dravidian polity’s anti-upper caste stance, and equating Hinduism with an inherent suspicion of Brahminism. He also appointed Dalit trustees in temples such as Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar.
Much earlier, on August 24, 1987, Jayendra had suddenly disappeared from the mutt, abdicating his religious duties and setting off panic. He was found at Talacauvery in Karnataka, the origin of Cauvery river, days later. While rationalists and Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu had used the incident to slam the mutt and raised allegations against Jayendra, then President R Venkataraman, also a native of Thanjavur, was among those who sent emissaries to facilitate his return back to Kancheepuram.
There were problems in his return, too, until the Madras High Court dismissed several petitions challenging his return on the ground that he cannot return to a spiritual post after having abandoned it without permission.
A procession and funeral rituals for the Kanchi seer will be held on Thursday.
As Jayendra dies, Kanchi mutt is no longer an exclusive spiritual centre but is also emerging as a powerful centre wielding political power, one which often hosts politicians from all parties, modelling the political and influential nature of mutts in Karnataka.
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