Mumbai: Mumbai-based  Kalavai Sri Mahadevendra Saraswati Shankaracharya Trust donated an Elephant to Lord Guruvayurappan, Guruvayur, in memory of late Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, the 69th Sankaracharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.

The Kanchi Sankaracharya was very close to the temple. The Seer had also donated earlier, various gold ornaments like the Gold Crown, Padagolakam (Gold covering for the Lord’s feet), Gold flute, Gold chains and ornaments to the Lord, said B.Shridhar, the managing trustee of Kalavai Sankaracharya trust.

About a decade ago, Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal was requested by the temple management to offer an elephant to the temple. The Sankaracharya could not offer an elephant at that time due to the prevailing inter-state court ban on the sale/purchase of elephants. Hence, he offered a gold-covered sandalwood.

Now the Guruvayur Devaswom has also approved a scheme whereby any devotee wanting to donate an elephant can purchase one from the Guruvayur temple itself and redonate it to the temple for Rupees Ten Lakhs.

The Kalavai trust decided to take advantage of this scheme and approached the Guruvayur Devaswom with a demand draft of the required sum of money and secured their management approval to donate the elephant, along with various ornaments to adorn the elephant, like Annai Pattam, Chamaram, said Shridhar.

The Trust also ritualistically proposed to rename the elephant as “Sri Jayendrar” in Acharya’s memory and left it to the temple management whether to adopt this new name or continue with their old name of “Sri Vishnu”.

For More Updates, Subscribe To Media Eye News