Controversial Kanchi Shankaracharya passes away, last rites today

Chennai : Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, one of the four mutts of Shankaracharya, passed away at a private hospital in Kancheepuram – around 74 km from Chennai – on Wednesday morning. The 83-year-old seer was taken to the ABCD Hospital located near the mutt after he complained of breathlessness but died soon after.

He had played an active role in spreading Hindu spiritualism and was also involved in political activities. In as much as he was a revered figure for his followers, the seer had courted controversies in his lifetime.

Several leaders including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed shock over his death. “Deeply anguished by the passing away of Acharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Jagadguru Pujyashri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya. He will live on in the hearts and minds of lakhs of devotees due to his exemplary service and noblest thoughts. Om Shanti to the departed soul,” Modi tweeted.

He was born on July 18, 1935, in Irulneeki a nondescript hamlet near Mannargudi in Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl region and was named Subramaniam by his parents. In 1954, at the age of 19, he was initiated into the world of sanyas by the senior pontiff Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi, whom he succeeded in 1994.

Jayendra Saraswathi next hit headlines when he vanished from the mutt in 1987 prompting a countrywide search for him. Angered over this sacrilege, Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi had appointed Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi as his successor. However, Jayendra Saraswathi was traced in Karnataka’s Talacauvery after three days and upon his return to the mutt got back his position as the anointed successor of Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi.

At that time, he had claimed that he had left the mutt after “getting the Lord’s message” while meditating at Tirupati to launch a national movement for spiritual and national awakening and to take a solemn vow. He further claimed that he did not inform anyone as he feared that they would have persuaded him to put off his plans. Later he started ‘Jana Kalyan, Jana Jagran’ a movement which he said was meant for people of all religions.

At one point, he wielded enormous political influence over national leaders – predominantly from the BJP and RSS – and with then AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa. He even sought to play a role in resolving the Ram Janmaboomi dispute at Ayodhya.

Despite his proximity to Jayalalithaa, which is believed to have influenced her to introduce an anti-religious conversion law in Tamil Nadu that backfired politically, on Deepavali eve in 2004, her police arrested him (and subsequently his junior pontiff) from Andhra Pradesh accusing him of masterminding the murder of Sankararaman, a priest at the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram. He was in jail for over two months before getting bail.

The trial in the case was then transferred to Puducherry but all witnesses including Sankararaman’s wife turned hostile facilitating the acquittal of the two seers.

After his acquittal, he maintained a rather low profile. Around two months ago, Jayendra Saraswathi had visited the Varadaraja Perumal temple after 13 years. Last month he was hospitalised in Chennai for certain ailments and was discharged.

The seer’s final rituals will be performed on Thursday morning. Thousands of followers and political party leaders paid personal homage to him on Wednesday.