Jeeva Samadhi turns out to be damp squib

Collector seeks blessings from siddhar, stays till dawn break

Siddhar Irulappasamy, who announced jeeva samadhi at Pasankarai village near Sivaganga, waving to the crowd on Thursday night. Collector J. Jayakanthan is standing next to him.

Thousands of people who thronged Pasankarai village in Sivaganga to watch a self-proclaimed godman Irulappasamy attain a promised ‘ jeeva samadhi’ returned disappointed at dawn break on Friday after he indefinitely ‘postponed’ his plans.

The godman had claimed that he would unite with Lord Siva between Thursday midnight and 5 a.m. on Friday. Following this, his ‘disciples’ readied a huge pit for the body to be interred after he breathed his last and to perform the rituals. Thousands of people from various parts of the State waited anxiously for him to attain ‘jeeva samadhi’ the whole night.

Curiously Sivaganga Collector J. Jayakanthan was among those who turned up at the spot to seek the godman’s blessings. He sat next to him throughout the night, thus giving credence to the event.

The Collector left at the break of day after a team of government doctors declared that the septuagenarian was hale and healthy. As the old man’s much awaited union with Lord Siva did not take place till 5 a.m., his disciples closed the 10x10 pit after sacrificing a rooster and burying it in it.

When reporters asked him about his presence, Mr. Jayakanthan said he visited the village to ensure maintenance of law and order and things did not go awry. The police initially deployed policemen in plainclothes, but after the crowd started swelling, a team led by Additional Superintendent of Police Mangaleswaran was deployed.

Superintendent of Police R. Rohit Nathan said no untoward incident was reported and all those who visited the village had left on Friday. No case has been made out for the police intervention and registration of case as the godman never called the public to witness his ‘jeeva Samadhi’ and the public visited the village on their own, he said.

The high drama began around 11 p.m. when disciples and Sivachariyars, mostly from Tiruvannamalai, started performing rituals and deeparadhanai after placing a Siva Lingam and Nandhi in front of the Siddhar. Five minutes after midnight, the Siddhar, talking to a television channel, claimed that he got the nod from Lord Siva for the ‘jeeva Samadhi’ as the frenzied crowd surged to seek his blessings.