Senior seer of Mantralayam math passes away

MANTRALAYAM, ANDHRA PRADESH, MARCH 21, 2014: TThousands of devotees and disciples gathered in Sri Raghavendra Mutt in Mantralayam, Andhra Pradesh, on Friday for catching last glimpse of Mutt’s chief pontiff Sri Suyateendra Teertha, 80, who died at 12.10 am. - PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR.

Suyateendra Tirtha, 80, senior seer of the Sri Raghavendra Math here, passed away at 12.10 a.m. on Friday. He was suffering from age-related health issues.

His body was kept at the math complex for his disciples and devotees to pay their last respects. According to the math’s tradition, he was buried at at Brindavanam on the math premises, where some of his predecessors have been buried, at 11.30 a.m.

A large number of people thronged Mantralayam to pay their last respects to the seer. The former Koppal MP H.G. Ramulu and the former Minister Sudheendra Rao Kasbe were among them. Most of the shops here downed shutters as a mark of respect to the math head.

Born at Pete Alur in Mundaragi taluk of Gadag district, Susheelendracharya (as Sri Suyateendra Tirtha was known earlier) did his B.Sc. from Karnatak University in Dharwad. He later came to Bangalore and did B.Ed. He also secured the Associate Member of Institution of Engineers certification. He learnt sahitya and the Vedas under the guidance of Suyameendra Tirtha, and ‘Nyaya Sudha’ and other shastras under Ramacharya, a scholar of the math.

He served as teacher at Bharatiya Samskruthi Vidyapeetha, Bangalore, for 30 years and became the principal of the institution.

Sushameendra Tirtha, the then head of the Mantralayam Math, appointed him as the Dharmadhikari of the Seethapathi Agrahara branch of the math in Bangalore. After serving six years there, he was elevated as Dewan of the Mantralayam Math.

Sri Sushameendra Tirtha renamed Susheelendracharya as Suyateendra Tirtha and appointed him as his successor in July 2006. After Sri Sushameendra Tirtha’s demise in April 2009, Sri Suyateendra Tirtha became the head of the math.

As his health deteriorated, Sri Suyateendra Tirtha appointed Sri Subudhendra Tirtha as his successor in May 2013. The senior seer formally conferred the administrative responsibilities and rights pertaining to the math’s branches, kalyana mantapas, vidyapeethas and other educational institutions of the math to his successor on March 10, 2014.