Havyaka community group wants pontiff to step down

Samana Manaskara Havyaka Vedike - a group of Havyaka Brahmins associated with the decades-old Ramachandrapura Mutt on Saturday came out in the open to mount pressure on pontiff Raghaveshwara Bharathi, accused of raping two women disciples, to step down from his position.

“The truth is out in the open, which has shamed all those who are associated with the Mutt. The seer has no moral right to continue as pontiff,” K H Srinivas, former minister and honorary president of the Vedike told reporters in the City. M N Bhat Madhguni, another close associate and senior disciple of the Mutt, said that he was not able to stand by Raghaveshwara Bharathi for long, knowing the ugly side. “There was a change in the way things functioned in the last few years. Women devotees were made to dance and sing in front of the seer at the Mutt, which no other seer did in the past. The atmosphere of devotion was missing. The seer, who is supposed to practise celibacy and maintain distance from women, was different. When we objected, he ignored our advice,” he said. Madhguni said that the issue took a turn for the worse on July 4, 2014.

He said, “We were numbed when Premalatha and Diwakar Shastry, both ardent and disciplined devotees of the Mutt, informed us about the repeated rape by the seer. We could not digest the fact. When we sought clarification from Raghaveshwara Bharathi, he termed it a conspiracy and refused to talk to the Shastry family. We advised him to go on a spiritual retreat in the Himalayas for an indefinite period. Subsequently, he announced it during Chaturmasya (a four-month holy period) in front of about 10,000 devotees. But, he went back on his words.”

Madhguni clarified that it was the Shastry family which brought up the issue of rape in the Mutt committee first. The pontiff, fearing consequences, falsely registered a blackmail case against Diwakar Shastry. “It is ridiculous. I know the truth and I stand by the Shastry family,” he said.