VARANASI - The Dwarikapeeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand today asked the beleaguered Kanchi Kamakoti Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati to step down from his post until proved innocent by the court of law in an alleged murder case. "The seer must step down from the post of Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakotipeeth until he is absolved by the court of the charges against him in the Shankaraman murder case," he told reporters here.
"If a public representative or a minister was required to quit his post for alleged complicity in a criminal or murder case, then why not Shankaracharya also quit his post," he asked. Stepping up his attack on the incarcerated spritual leader, Swaroopanand also questioned the former's credentials as Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakotipeeth and said that how could he claim to be a Shankaracharya when the Kanchi Kamakoti Peeth was not annointed as one of the four peeths of the Hindu religion. The adi Shankaracharya's had founded only four peeths, Puri, Dwarka, Shrinegeri and Badrika Ashram Peeth and there was no Peeth of Kanchi Kamkoti in the original order, he said adding Swami Jayendra was a mere priest of a mutt. Source: 'Dwarikapeeth Shankaracharya asks Kanchi Seer to step down' Outlook India, December 2, 2004
