The Holy Perpetrator

Scams, murder, arrest, bail, hostile witness and pending cases; these entire things are not new to an Indian. Even though the case of Kochi Mutt Sankaracharya is only a latest addition to them, it is somehow different. Because the politicized Hindutva campaign over the arrest of Sankaracharya is a surrender to politics at the cost of Hinduism's soul.

After the murder of Sankararaman Ananta Krishna, a loyal worker for the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Mutt, the then Shankaracharya of the Mutt Sri Jayendra Saraswati and junior acharya Vijayendra Saraswati had come in the limelight as the prime accused in the case. The case is yet pending in a Puducherry court but seeing that even the main approver in the case has turned hostile it is believed that both of them will escape punishment.

Sankararaman was killed on September 3, 2004 when five men stabbed him to death in the Devarajasami temple. The media reports suggested that his murder was carried out on the direction of Shankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati, 69the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Jayendra Saraswati, the Sankaracharya Periyava , and junior seer Vijayendra Saraswati were considered the prime accused in the case and were arrested from Hyderabad on 11 November, 2004. The allegation against them was that of hiring goons to murder Sankararaman. They are charged with, among other things, payment of funds to carry out the murder.

Sankararaman was killed on September 3, 2004 when five men stabbed him to death in the Devarajasami temple. The media reports suggested that his murder was carried out on the direction of Shankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati, 69the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

There had been a type of tense relations between Sankararaman and Jayendra Saraswati since the time of late Kanchi Sankaracharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati when Jayendra was a junior acharya. Sankararaman who also served the Mutt as long as for 60 years was a devote servant to Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati. After the death of Chandrasekharendra, Jayendra Saraswati became Sankaracharya and relation between him and Sankararaman worsened.

Since Sankararaman had been with Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati he could feel that the Mutt was moving in a direction different from the senior Sankaracharya's time. He would object, often in writing to Sri Jayendra Saraswati.

In 2000, Jayendra Saraswati planned to travel to China. Sankararaman moved to the court to stop the Sankaracharya from going to China. He argued that if Jayendra Saraswati traveled by road he could go to China, but he should not cross the oceans. An ordinary Hindu could make a mistake, he argued, not the head of the Kanchi Mutt. Because the scriptures clearly dictate that a Hindu would lose his religion if he crossed the oceans. The Sankaracharya canceled his trip.

Sankararaman got a job at the Devarajasami temple as manager and he stopped frequenting the Kanchi Mutt as he used to. Once Sankararaman intended to visit Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati's grave but not allowed to do so.

Since Sankararaman had been with Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati he could feel that the Mutt was moving in a direction different from the senior Sankaracharya's time. He would object, often in writing to Sri Jayendra Saraswati.

In a letter dated August 30, 2004, which has since been reproduced in Nakkeeran, the Tamil magazine, Sankararaman warned the Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, “I am going to court to remove you from the leadership of the Kanchi Mutt. You are misusing your authority.”

Then in September 2004 Sankararaman was killed. He paid the cost of being the whistle blower against the dacoit in the swathe of religion.

Besides the charges of misusing authority, many more allegations were leveled by Sankararaman against Jayendra Saraswati. According to the reports, even since 2001, Sankararaman had been expressing disapproval of the "moral and financial decrepitude" in the math in letters to the math and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department. He later began sending copies of his letters to Nakkheeran.

In a letter dated August 30, 2004, which has since been reproduced in Nakkeeran, the Tamil magazine, Sankararaman warned the Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, “I am going to court to remove you from the leadership of the Kanchi Mutt. You are misusing your authority.”

Sankararaman repeatedly referred to the misappropriation of temple-related funds by the senior Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, and the junior Shankaracharya, Vijayendra Saraswati, and to the "materialistic and physical pleasures" the pontiffs were getting used to. He ridiculed both swamis for being "closeted for long hours with certain women". The pursuit of ungodly matters, he alleged, resulted in the neglect of basic rituals like the 'Chandramouleeswara puja'.

“Sankararaman also accused both sanyasis of not rising above familial attachments: Jayendra Saraswati's brothers Visu and Ramakrishnan and Vijayendra Saraswati's brother Raghu play key roles in math affairs. In his August 30 letter, ironically titled 'The Final Notice', Sankararaman threatened to take the math to court and get Jayendra Saraswati sacked under the HR&CE Act,” reads an article published in Outlook magazine.

While only charges regarding murder were leveled against Jayendra Saraswati and the allegations by Sankararaman about embezzlement in temple funds and illicit behavior were ignored, even these charges are getting weaker by the passage of time.
So far at least out of 83 prosecution witnesses examined, 45 have turned hostile.

“Sankararaman also accused both sanyasis of not rising above familial attachments: Jayendra Saraswati's brothers Visu and Ramakrishnan and Vijayendra Saraswati's brother Raghu play key roles in math affairs.

The lone approver, the contractor Ravi Subramaniam, deposed in the Puducherry district and sessions court that he had given false statements earlier under duress. Even the wife of murdered Sankararaman Padma, daughter Mitreyi turned hostile.

Now after being granted bail in February 2005, both the prime accused are out of jail. Instead of condemning the tainted Sankaracharya, the Hindutva forces and BJP came together against the incarceration of acharya Jayendra Saraswati openly. While Acharya must have been condemned and efforts would have been made to clear the image of acharyas, most sacred leaders of Arya tradition, he was defended. It damages the image of acharyas and creates a wrong notion of them among common people. Seeing this, people even quit Hindu religion and embrace Christianity or Islam which they find pure from all these silly things. Surprisingly, then this angers the Hindutva elements and they spoil peace of the country.

The seer’s team filed case in Supreme Court for the transfer of case from Tamil Nadu to Puducherry and it was done.

Despite there was a strong possibility that witnesses might be influenced or put under pressure to distract from statement, they were granted bail. Whether it was done or not but most of the witnesses have turned hostile and are continue doing so.
Eventually, the hullabaloo over the arrest of the Acharya of the Kanchi Mutt exposes the double standards of political Hinduism. Are Hindus no longer interested in what happens to Hindu institutions? Does it not matter to them that the fundamental nature of the Mutt is undergoing a change? It also symbolizes surrender to politics at the cost of Hinduism's soul. All those black sheep who wrap themselves under religion should be put under confinement permanently. But it seems this covet will never happen because all these perpetrators have everyone in the court starting from bureaucrats and law maker to law breakers.

By: Mohammad Tanveer
Email: madrasonline@gmail.com