Latest updates: The crowd is moving smoothly and so far more than 2,000 people have come to pay their respectJayendra Saraswathi's body will be kept in state in the Kanchipuram mutt till 7 am tomorrow. Devotees can pay their final respects to the seer till then. Tributes have begun pouring in for the Kanchipuram seer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed anguish over the death of the "institution builder". Congress said, "Our thoughts go out to his close associates and millions of his followers around the world." Several BJP leaders including Ram Madhav too have paid their tribute to the 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

The head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Jayendra Saraswathi passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 82, CNN-News18 reported. The pontiff died in a private hospital near Kamakshi Amman temple in Kanchipuram, reported The Hindu.

According to another report in The Hindu, Saraswathi was facing breathing issues since a couple of weeks. He had been taken to Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre in Chennai in January after his health deteriorated rapidly.

File image of Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchi mutt. Wikimedia Commons

File image of Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchi mutt. Wikimedia Commons

Zee News reported that the seer, who is also the Shankaracharya of the Kanchipuram mutt, had collapsed after complaining of a breathing problem.

Saraswathi was the 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, which was established by Adi Shankaracharya in the Fifth Century AD. Saraswathi was named by Chandrasekharendra Swamigal, who was also known as Periyavar, as his successor in 1954.

The seer shot to national infamy when his name emerged in an alleged conspiracy to kill Sankarraman, an accountant in his mutt. His consequent arrest in November 2004 shocked the Hindu clergy. Saraswathi was acquitted in the murder case in 2016.

 


Published Date: Feb 28, 2018 12:03 PM | Updated Date: Feb 28, 2018 12:29 PM