SWAMI NITYANANDA
Self-styled godman swami nityananda is back in business as the 293rd pontiff of the 1,500-year-old Madurai adheenam, one of india,s oldest saivite mutts. His anointment in apirl comes after nearly two years of lying low following a damaging sleaze video with a tamil starlet that played out on tv in 2010. The high-profile following of politicians like narendra modi, B.S. yeddyurappa and actors like juhi chawla, vivek oberoi did not help when the banglore police arrested the 34-year-old. Nityananda spent over a month behind bars on rape charges before he was granted bail.
The fifth century Madurai adheenam has a huge following in tamil nadu and was set up as a seat for popularizing saivite traditions and promoting its literature. But it is not doing much of those now.
Many hindu outfits and heads of other adheenams ( mutts ) in tamil nadu are fuming and claim that nityananda ‘s ascension is anearcoup. His first act after coronation was to hand over a rs 1- crore donation to arunagirinatha gnanasam bandha desigar, the senior pontiff who crowned him. Besides the sleaze taint, his detractorssay he is not even a saivite from the saiva vellala community, which has traditionally held that position. The godman’s detractors have petitioned the madras high court against his anointment. It comes up for hearing in june . this mutt belongs to the people. Its pontiffsare mere trustees. The adheenam owns rs 1,200 crore worth of property and nityananda just wants to grab all of it, said arjun sampath of hindu makkal katchi, one of the organizations which is protesting against his anointment.