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| July 31, 2000 | ||
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| PURI SHANKARACHARYA Seer Pressure A claimant to the exalted position is branded an imposter and ordered out of the temple town By Ruben Banerjee
Such intemperate behaviour has ensured that the Shankaracharya today evokes as much hatred as respect. Many would like to see him go. Some years ago the Orissa government unsuccessfully tried to unseat him as the Puri seer. Now, another attempt to remove him from his lofty pedestal is underway. Last week, the temple town of Puri was in turmoil with the arrival of Swami Adhokshajananda from Varanasi, who claimed that he was the real Shankaracharya. The claim triggered angry protests from supporters of the incumbent Shankaracharya. Just as things were set to spin out of control, the district administration stepped in, arrested the claimant and sent him packing out of the town with a court order to that effect. Last heard, he had pitched camp at Gopalpur outside the limits of Puri municipality, but not far from the town. His presence in the vicinity has kept the controversy raging. On his part, an enraged Shankaracharya has unleashed a verbal fusillade against the pretender to his throne. "If he is mentally deranged, let him be treated in a mental hospital. If he is trying to fool the people, he should be punished," Swami Nischalananda said. However, Swami Adhokshajananda maintains that he is neither imbalanced nor trying to fool anyone. "I am the true Shankaracharya, having been ordained by the previous seer Swami Niranjan Devtirtha." This is a claim Swami Adhokshajananda has been making for several months now. He first showed up at Puri in January. Last month, he visited Kashmir and met Hurriyat leaders in the capacity of the Puri Shankaracharya, reportedly as the Centre's emissary. Obviously, some quarters in Delhi recognise him as the Puri Shankaracharya. But in Orissa, he is unwanted. "He is an impostor," said state Revenue Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan in the Assembly. Support for the official Shankaracharya also came from the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri, Sri Dibya Singh Deb, who is seen as Lord Jagannath's incarnation. The whole issue is shrouded in confusion. If Swami Adhokshajananda was ordained as the Shankaracharya, why has he not challenged in court Swami Nischalananda Saraswati's appointment in the five years that he has been the official Shankaracharya? And why, despite Swami Adhokshajananda's much publicised visit to Kashmir as the Puri Shankaracharya, did Swami Nischalananda Saraswati not clarify the position? For the time being, there are more posers than answers available. What is known, however, is that Swami Nischalananda's appointment as the Puri Shankaracharya was not smooth in the first place. The state's endowment commissioner, who needs to recognise the appointment, had held back such a recognition for years following complaints from certain quarters that Swami Nischalananda was not eligible to become the Shankaracharya. He was only a Saraswati, while a Shankaracharya had to be a Devatirtha. After years of wrangling, the endowment commissioner finally recognised Swami Nischalananda as the Shankaracharya in 1995. However, Swami Adhokshajananda's claim has once again put a question mark on the Shankaracharya's appointment. But few believe the rival and the local administration sends him packing every time he visits Puri. Yet that has not stopped him from continuing with his claims. Or giving Swami Nischalananda sleepless nights. |
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Given his penchant for stoking
controversies, the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami
Nischalananda Saraswati, finds himself more in the centre
of raging storms than heavenly bliss. Some years ago, he
had invoked the wrath of the feminist lobby when he
declared that women in the country had no right to recite
the Vedas. Last month, he triggered another countrywide
furore by converting over 70 tribals from Christianity to
Hinduism.