2,500-year-old Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham gets 71st pontiff

Duddu Satya Venkata Surya Subrahmanya Ganesha Sharma Dravid, a Rig Veda scholar, has been anointed as Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham's Acharya.

Chennai: Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Kanchipuram, a revered 2,500-year-old mutt established by Adi Shankara in 482 BC, on Wednesday anointed Duddu Satya Venkata Surya Subrahmanya Ganesha Sharma Dravid, a Rig Veda scholar, from Andhra Pradesh as its 71^st Acharya at a grand religious event on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya. 

The junior pontiff will be known as Satya Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi and his anointment coincided with the 2,534th birth anniversary of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya, a 8^th century philosopher and teacher, which falls on May 2, adding special significance to the occasion. 

Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the 70^th Shankaracharya and the current head of the mutt whose followers are spread across the globe, gave Sanyaasa Deeksha to the 25-year-old Ganesha Sharma Dravid, a native of Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh, at the Ganga Theertham of the Sri Kanchi Kamakshi Ambal Devasthanam temple. 

The ceremony began at 5:30 am and continued for hours, culminating in the young pontiff taking his seat at the mutt. It was attended by thousands of devotees, seers from across the country, and Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, among others, and the centre of attention at the ceremony was the parents and younger sister of the new pontiff of the Kanchi Mutt.

Before taking sanyasa, Ganesha Sharma Dravid took a dip in Pancha-Ganga theertham (tank) and changed into saffron clothes gifted to him by his guru, Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, from the white he was wearing. Both acharyas then proceeded together from the temple tank to the podium, where the new pontiff was given the Danda (stick) and an abhishekam was performed with a conch. 

After delivering a message in five different languages and bestowing the title Satya Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi on the young pontiff, the two acharyas walked in procession from the temple to mutt.

With the induction of the new pontiff, the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham upheld its tradition of an unbroken lineage of spiritual heads. The mutt will now have two acharyas for the first time since 2018, when the then-head Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal passed away. 

For eleven years, from 1983 to 1994, the mutt had three acharyas -- Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal, popularly known as the Mahaswamigal, Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, and Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, who became an acharya at the young age of 15 in 1983.

The new pontiff, who was initiated into Vedic studies in 2006 at the age of five, is a distinguished Rig Veda scholar from Annavaram. He completed his studies in Yajurveda, Samaveda, Shadangas, and Dashopanishat. His father, Srinivasa Surya Subramania Dhanvanthri, is a priest at the Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Temple, Annavaram.

Satya Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi received his Vedic education under the tutelage of Chandukutlu Hosamane Ratnakara Bhat Sharma of Karnataka and served at Sri Gnana Saraswathi Devasthanam, Basara in Telangana’s Nirmal District.

Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, a distinguished Hindu monastic institution, is a renowned centre for Vedic learning, Sanatana Dharma, and Advaita Vedanta philosophy. It also holds a sacred place in Hindu tradition.

Besides running Veda Patasalas (schools for Vedic studies), the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham also runs several educational institutions, hospitals, and homes for the elderly.