PTI, KANCHEEPURAM: Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, regarded as one of the most influential spiritual leaders of his time but whose shock arrest in a murder case robbed the spiritual shine of the Kanchi mutt, died here today. He was 82.
The seer, who had been unwell for the past few months, had complained of uneasiness this morning and was rushed to the nearby medical facility sponsored by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.
Jayendra Saraswathi died of cardiac arrest, said sources at the Adi Bhagavadpada Cardiac and Dialysis Centre.
Jayendra Saraswathi's most challenging period came in 2004 when he was arrested on the eve of Diwali in connection with a murder of a temple manager, A Sankararaman, during the Jayalalithaa regime, sending shockwaves.
The trial court had later acquitted him and others including his deputy Vijayendra Saraswathi in the case.
A pall of gloom descended on this temple own, 75 km from Chennai, as soon as the news of the death of the 69th pontiff of Kanchi Sankara Mutt established by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century spread.
