Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswati dies at 82

The seer, who had been unwell for the past few months, had complained of uneasiness in the morning and was rushed to the nearby medical facility sponsored by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam where he reportedly died of cardiac arrest. 

Born in Irulneeki, a village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvarur district, as Sri Subramaniyam on July 18, 1935, Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was heading the Kanchi Mutt since 1954. The senior pontiff succeeded in 1994 as the 69th Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam after Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal. Following his death, the junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswathi will succeed Jayendra Saraswathi as the 70th pontiff of the mutt, according to mutt rules.

The body of Sankaracharya was placed at a vantage spot in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam so that his legion of followers could pay their last respects. According to officials, the body will be kept for public view till Thursday morning after which the last rites will be conducted amid vedic rituals. The Sankaracharya’s forehead was smeared with vibuthi (holy ash) and dotted with red kumkum and strings of garlands were wreathed around his neck.

He will be interred next to the burial site of his predecessor within the mutt premises. The rituals are scheduled to begin by 7 am and the burial is expected to end by 11 am. Security has been tightened in and around the mutt premises. Jayendra Saraswathi’s most challenging period came in 2004 when he was arrested on the eve of Deepavali in connection with the murder of a temple manager, A Sankararaman, during the Jayalalithaa regime, sending shockwaves among his followers. 

His face in repose, eyes closed and hands folded, the body of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was brought in a chair to a hall in the mutt as grieving devotees began to pay their last respects to the revered Hindu seer.

Followers wept as Sankaracharya’s was placed at a vantage spot in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam so that his legion of followers could bid him goodbye.

“He was the ‘jagatguru’ (guru of the world),” a distraught woman devotee said. The Sankaracharya’s forehead was smeared with vibuthi (holy ash) and dotted with red kumkum and strings of garlands were placed around his neck. Many of his followers were seen taking photos of the seer, as the mutt’s managers appealed to them for calm and restraint.

Police were regulating the crowds, as followers gathered for a last glimpse of the 69th acharya of the mutt. Law enforcers, gearing up for the likely arrival of several VIPs as well devotees from the country and elsewhere, were making arrangements for a regulated entry into the mutt.

The last rites of the seer, described as ‘Brindavana Pravesha Karyakramam’ in vedic parlance, will start from Thursday, according to the mutt. “The Brindavana Pravesha Karyakramam of His Holiness Pujyashri Jayendra Saraswathi Sankaracharya Swamigal will be performed on Thursday from 8 am,” the mutt’s official Twitter handle said. The rituals were expected to last through the day, mutt officials said. 

Queries about the last ceremony had come from various quarters, including the PM’s Office, they said, but could not confirm VIP visits. Decades ago, junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswathi was initiated into ‘sanyasa’ and nominated as the successor to Jayendra Saraswathi. Subsequent to a wide range of rituals, he will succeed Jayendra Saraswathi after the latter is laid to rest.