Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi Sri Sankara Mutt is credited with taking the highly revered religious institution to new heights in the sphere of spiritualism, community service, education and healthcare.
The Shankaracharya, who died of heart attack on Wednesday aged 82, had made a vain bid to resolve the vexatious Ayodhya temple issue by mediating in 2002.
Born as Subramanian in Irulneeki village in Tiruvarur district in Tamil Nadu, Jayendra Saraswati was appointed junior pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in 1954 by Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi at a young age of 19. Anointed the 69th pontiff of the mutt in 1994 succeeding Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal, he was considered a transformative force who reached out to all sections of people, including Dalits, and undertook social service.
He also strived to reach out to the underprivileged sections of the society and founded two outfits - Jan Kalyan and Jan Jaghran - with the objective of carrying out service-oriented activities. The bodies supported renovation of temples in Dalit neighbourhoods besides setting up new ones.
The mutt, under his charge, focused on welfare assistance for destitute women and free tuition for underprivileged students. He was instrumental in establishing a string of (Shankara) schools under the aegis of Shankara Educational Trust. A deemed university for ayurveda was also being run by the mutt, V R V Ramanujan, closely associated with Jan Kalyan movement, said.
T G Ganesan, a spiritual activist associated with the mutt said, "He (Jayendra) was the first pontiff from Kanchi mutt to make it a regular practice to meet common people, especially Dalits in their dwellings. In 1982, when a section of people decided to quit Hinduism and embrace another religion in (Meenakshipuram) Tirunelveli district, the pontiff reached out to them and took conciliatory efforts to settle the caste-related issues and promote peace," he said.
He also established hospitals, including in Assam (Shanakara Devanetralaya) and Andhra Pradesh. In Meghalaya and Andaman and Nicobar islands the mutt was engaged in community service.
Controversies
In 1987, Jayendra Saraswati mysteriously went missing for three days and was found at Thala Cauvery, the origin of Cauvery river in Karnataka. In 2004, he was arrested in a case relating to the murder of Sankararaman, a devotee of the Mutt and the manager of Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram. Later, he and the other accused, including his junior Vijayendra Saraswati, were acquitted in 2013.