The senior seer of Kancheepuram Sankara Mutt, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamy, passed away at a hospital in Kanchipuram. He was 82. The mutt administration issued a brief statement on their website.
“The 69th Acharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Jagadguru Pujyashri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamigal attained Siddhi at 9.00 am today — Shukla Trayodashi — 28 Feb. 2018 at Sri Kanchi Kamakotii Peetam Sankara Matam, Kanchipuram.” Sri Jayendra’s body has been kept at the Kamakoti Peetam for people to pay the last respects.
He will be succeeded by Vijayendra Saraswathi, who will be anointed as the 70th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.
Born as Subramaniayam in Irulneeki, a small hamlet near Mannargudi, in Tamil Nadu, he was initiated into sanyasam when he was 19 years old. Unlike his predecessor, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi sought to reach out to various sections of society and in the process, is said to have departed from the well established traditions of the mutt. His tenure witnessed many tumultuous moments.
Pontiff’s Disappearance
In 1987, Jayendra Saraswathi mysteriously disappeared from the mutt. He reportedly left behind his sacred thread and other articles of faith in his living quarters. Jayendra Saraswathi, however, was traced in Karnataka’s Talacauvery three days after he went missing. It shocked its devotees and a country-wide search was launched. He was finally traced to Talacauvery after three days. By this time, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, who had already been chosen as his successor, was anointed as the 70th head of the mutt. The post was restored to Sri Jayendra Saraswathi on his return.
Later, explaining his decision to leave the mutt, he told Frontline, “It was not sudden, though I did not take leave of anybody. I got the Lord’s message on two things when I meditated at Tirupati in early July. The first was to launch a national movement for spiritual, economic and national awakening of the people and the second was to take a sankalpa (solemn vow). If I had told anybody about my departure, they might have stopped me or persuaded me to put off my departure. That is why I had to go unannounced.”
Subsequently, he launched the movement ‘Jana Kalyan Jana Jagaran’ with the motto: service to the people and awakening the masses. He explained that the movement was not communal, claiming that some Christians and Muslims had joined it too.
His chosen successor, Sankara Vijayendra Sarasvati, was given charge of the mutt’s daily rituals in Jayendra Saraswati’s absence. Jayendra Saraswathi, till date, hasn’t fully explained the circumstances surrounding his sudden disappearance.
Nearly forty years after he was chosen as a successor, Jayendra Saraswathi succeeded Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi as the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in 1994.
Sankararaman murder case
Jayendra Saraswati’s role as the senior-most seer increasingly came under the spotlight in 2004 after he was named as an accused in the murder case of Sankararaman, a temple manager.
In 2000, when Jayendra Saraswati intended to visit China, Sankararaman sought the court intervention to stop the senior seer from travelling abroad. Sankararaman argued that a Hindu would lose his/her religion if he/she crossed the ocean, and as the head of the Kanchi mutt, Jayendra Saraswati should have known better. Jayendra Saraswati was forced to abandon his plans.
Sankararaman was allegedly barred from entering the mutt owing to differences between the two. He even wrote open letters to Jayendra Saraswati, warning him against abusing his position at the mutt and threatened to move to court seeking his removal. The junior seer and his successor, Vijayendra Saraswathi was also named as an accused in the case. Jaynedra Saraswathi was however acquitted in the case in 2013 after a prolonged legal fight.
In 2004, Sankaraman was attacked by five men at the Debrajasamy temple and stabbed him to death.
Must read Kanchi Shankaracharya : Lesser Known Facts about the Pontiff
Must read A Brief History of Kanchi Mutt
