Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mutt said on Friday that neither he nor any of the seers of the Ashta Mutts were involved in the death of Lakshmivara Tirtha Swami of Shiroor Mutt.
His response comes in the backdrop of the statement issued by Kasturba Hospital in Manipal that there was “suspicion of poisoning” in the case and that toxicological samples had been sent for testing.
Addressing presspersons here, the Pejawar seer said the remaining seers had nothing to gain from the Shiroor seer’s death. He called for a thorough and impartial probe into the matter and said he was ready to face any police enquiry.
The Pejawar seer said there were several versions of the death doing the rounds, and referred to some relating to the personal conduct of the seer that were “contrary to sanyasa dharma”.
“The Shiroor seer’s brother, Latavya Acharya, called me and said the seer had eaten from unpolished utensils (those without ‘kalai’) and he would recover. But unfortunately, he has passed away. I don’t think it was a murder,” he said.
The seer said it was only recently that differences sprung up between him and the late Shiroor seer because he had said that he had children. “This was a violation of ‘sanyasa dharma.’ Besides, he also accused seers of the remaining mutts of having children, which was totally misleading,” said the Pejawar seer.
Since he had violated the ‘sanyasa dharma,’ the late seer was told by the other seers to appoint a junior seer. Consequently, the idols of the presiding deities of his mutt were not returned from Sri Krishna Mutt. “After I came to know about this violation some years ago, I did not allow the Shiroor seer to worship Lord Krishna during my fifth Paryaya (2016-18). He was angry with me over this,” the Pejawar seer said. “I made several attempts to reform him, but to no avail.”
He also accused Vishwa Vijaya, former junior seer of Pejawar Mutt, Ishavittaladas Swami of Kemar Mutt, and others of making “irresponsible statements” over the Shiroor seer’s death.
Constitution for mutts
On the demand for a constitution for the Ashta Mutts, the Pejawar seer said a draft was given by Vishwa Vijaya. “He held three meetings on this issue. But there were differences over many issues, including whether seers should travel by flight,” he said.
