Thousands pay homage to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati

Auditor S Gurumurthy pay his last respects to Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Mutt, in Kanchipuram on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

Scores of people gathered here to pay their last respects to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, who passed away on Wednesday.

As per Sundareshan, the Manager of the Kanchi Sankara Mutt, the body of the pontiff will remain for public viewing until 7:30 a.m. today, following which rituals will begin at around 8 a.m.

'More than one lakh people have paid darshan since yesterday. At 8 am, we will start the rituals, and the obituary will be done here itself for the public to see this. He will then be decorated and taken to the place he has to be kept beside his predecessor and guide Chadrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal,' he told ANI.

The 82-year old head of the Kanchi Mutt was suffering from diabetes and had collapsed at the mutt with shortness of breath and was admitted to Chennai's Ramachandra hospital last month.

The last rites, known as the 'Brindavana Pravesha Karyakramam' in Vedic context, are expected to go on until noon today.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever