There was tension at Pattanayakanahalli village in Sira taluk in Tumkur district on Monday over burying an old woman on the premises of the Spatikapuri Math.
Jayamma (85) died in the morning and her children and her relatives took the body to the premises of the math to bury her. However, seer of the math, Nanjavadoota Swami, and the math officials denied them permission.
Angered by this, people of the Kuruba community, to which Jayamma belonged, gathered in large number in front of the math and sought a place for burial as Jayamma’s family had donated land to the math.
They said that on earlier occasions too members of the family had been buried on the premises of the math as it was their ancestral property.
There were heated arguments between this group and another belonging to the Kunchatiga Vokkaliga community leading to tension on the math premises.
It is said that the math authorities denied permission for burial of dead members of the family in 2007 and 2010.
A property case is in court.
Additional Superintendent of Police Hanumantharaya told The Hindu that the body was taken back to the house.
He said that Section 144 has been imposed around the math. A District Armed Reserve and a Karnataka State Reserve Police platoon have been deployed.
