Know All About Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi

Brindavana Pravesha Karyakramam of HH Pujyashri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamigal will be performed tomorrow ( 1 March 2018) from 8 am.

- KanchiMutt (@KanchiMatham) February 28, 2018

The acharya was not keeping well for over a month and was rushed to a Kanchipuram hospital early in the morning after he complained of breathlessness. He was unconscious when he was brought to the hospital. His vital parameters, including blood pressure and pulse, were weak. He died despite doctors' efforts to revive him.

Here are 5 facts about Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi:

1. Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, a matha or mutt is a prominent Hindu monastic institution in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram. Its head is known as "Shankaracharya".

2. The mutt was founded by Adi Shankaracharya in 482 BC and runs several schools, eye clinics and hospitals. It has a huge following in South India.

3. Born in Irulneeki, a village in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvarur district, as Sri Subramaniyam on July 18, 1935, Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was heading the Kanchi Mutt since 1954. He was its 69th pontiff.

4. The junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswathi will succeed Jayendra Saraswathi as the 70th pontiff of the mutt, according to the mutt rules.

5. Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was among those charged in a 2004 murder of a Kanchipuram temple employee. In 2013, he and 22 others were cleared of the charges.