HYDERABAD: Sri Jayendra Saraswati, 69th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakodi mutt, seemed more socially conscious and politically savvy than even his ‘guru’, Sri Chandrasekhara Sarasawti.
This came out during a rare interaction the two Sankaracharyas had with the media in the winter of 1983 when they were staying in Tadipathri in Andhra Pradesh for a few days on their way back to the Kanchi mutt.
As a controversy then raged over a remark made in Parliament by Buta Singh, then Union Parliamentary Affairs minister in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet, quoting the seer of another ‘Peetam’, that ‘Sudras’ were barred from participating in the VHP-sponsored ‘Yekatmatha Yatra’, as they “should not participate in it”.
This injunctive remark set the Mahaswamy thinking and he wished to issue a statement refuting Buta Singh. Three select media correspondents were then called to the acharyas’ dwelling in Anantpur. The senior acharya gestured something to Sri Jayendra Saraswati, on the content of the statement, while Sri Jayendra was deciphering his signs to the media.
The Mahaswamy then quoted from ‘Krishna Yajur Veda’ to say that only ‘Sudras’ are supposed to take the lead in all such rituals and that there was no truth in Buta Singh’s statement made in Parliament.
As mediapersons were about to leave, an alert Sri Jayendra told them to hang on for a while, even as he explained to the Mahaswamy that his statement in that form could jell in Tamil Nadu which had a strong non-Brahmin movement, but not in Andhra Pradesh and other parts of the country where it could create an anti-Brahmin backlash.
Even at the acharyas’ next halt at Kadapa, the local Congress MP, Kandula Obula Reddy, “may insist that he (Reddy) should perform ‘pujas’ and ‘yagnas’ and not the ‘Brahmins’, Sri Jayendra said to drive home how ‘Sudras’ would want to be in the forefront of rituals.
The Mahaswami, after giving it a deep thought for almost an hour, then modified his earlier statement to finally say, “it is the ardent responsibility of every Hindu to participate in the ‘Ekathmatha Yatra’, adding this one-liner should itself be sufficient to refute Buta Singh’s statement.
