A Rig Veda scholar from the holy town of Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh is next in line to take over as the 71st pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
Duddu Satya Venkata Surya Subramanya Ganesha Sharma Dravid will be anointed on April 30 by the current and 70th pontiff, Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya. The ceremony will be held in Kanchipuram on Akshaya Tritiya, believed to be an auspicious occasion by the Hindu community, according to an announcement by the Kanchi mutt.
The event will also coincide with the 2534th birth anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya which falls on May 2. Adi Shankaracharya established the mutt in 482 BC.
The soon-to-be-anointed pontiff had served at the famous Gnana Saraswathi temple in Basara in the Nizamabad region of Telangana. The temple sees a large influx of devotees who bring their children before they are inducted into primary schools. It is believed that the children who pray at the temple will excel in academics.
The mutt in its formal communication has conveyed that Ganesha Sharma Dravid had the blessings of the current pontiff and the Preetham right from 2006 when he was initiated into Vedic studies. “With blessings of His Holiness, Sri Ganesha Sharma Dravid in addition to Rig Veda has also completed Yajurveda, Samaveda, Shadangas, Dashopanishat and has been pursuing Shastric studies,” informed the Peetham. The current pontiff, Vijayendra Saraswathi, was anointed almost 40 years back. For the lakhs of followers of the Mutt, April 30 will be a very important moment.
