TUMAKURU: The dethroned junior pontiff of Siddaganga mutt, Gowrishankara Swamiji, died after a prolonged illness at KIMS Hospital in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Wednesday. He was 71.
He had suffered a paralysis stroke two months back and could not recover.
The final rites will be held under the leadership of Basavaraju Swamiji of Khani Mutt at Jangama Mutt at Gollahalli in Gubbi taluk on Thursday.
His mortal remains were first taken to his native Seethakal village and later kept at the government school grounds at Kyathsandra near Siddaganga mutt.
Devotees thronged to have a glimpse of the swamiji and police had a tough time in controlling the crowd.
Fight ends
With the death of Gowrishanakara Swamiji, his three-decade fight against the Siddaganga mutt and its seer Shivakumara Swamiji to succeede the centenarian as the head of the mutt has come to an end.
Born to Muddappa and Gowramma, he had his primary education at Seethakal village.
Later, he joined Siddaganga Mutt for secondary schooling and completed BE in mechanical engineering at Siddaganga Institute of Technology before entering into ‘sanyas’ during 1975.
Trouble started when he reportedly tried to plug the loopholes and pilferage of resources in the mutt. He faced a sodomy case involving a class IX student of the mutt in 1988 and was ousted from the religious institution.
While local courts had acquitted him in the criminal case for lack of evidence, the High Court convicted him in 2004. It sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment besides imposing a penalty of `25 lakh which was termed as the highest ever in the history of sodomy cases.
But, in 2008 the Supreme Court acquitted him and by then he had spent four years in jail.
He contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Tumakuru on a Samajvadi Party ticket but lost.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had reportedly helped him when he was in utter poverty. All the bills at KIMS were footed by the head of Adichunchanagiri Mutt Sri Nirmalananda swami.