TN celebrates removal of Nithyananda as mutt head

Chennai, Oct 21, 2012, DHNS:

Various Hindu outfits on Saturday welcomed the removal of controversial godman Nithyananda from the position of 293rd pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam, the Saiva Siddantha Mutt, and celebrated the occasion by bursting crackers and offering prayers.

Members of Hindu outfits expressed happiness at the dramatic news of senior pontiff Arunagirinatha Desikar removing Nithyananda late on Friday night. Youth volunteers of the Saiva Ilagnar Peravai from Tirunelveli, one of the hubs of ‘Saiva Siddantha’ philosophy, broke 108 coconuts outside the mutt’s entrance gate in Madurai, thanking the lord that “good sense had prevailed”.

The elevation of the self-styled godman, embroiled in several controversies at his Bidadi Ashram in Bangalore, as the junior pontiff of the Aadhenam in April this year had provoked widespread denunciation from several sections of Hindu society that the celebration on Saturday seemed very obvious. Various outfits have been demanding the removal of Nithyananda to uphold the mutt’s “tradition and scholarship” traced to the 7th century Tamil saint-poet Gnanasambandar. In temple-towns across the state, including Kumbakonam, Coimbatore and the home town of Nithyananda, Tiruvannamalai, volunteers and Hindu groups like ‘Hindu Makkal Katchi’ and ‘Hindu Munnani’ came out on the streets in a festive spirit, burst crackers and distributed sweets to the people to mark his removal.

Nithyananda, in a statement from Tiruvannamalai, said on Saturday that he “voluntarily” to give up the junior pontiff’s post, in ‘’the present circumstances ridden by controversies’’. “I did not want to continue in that post, lest it may stress the senior pontiff’s delicate health condition further and rob him of his peace,” Nithyananda said.

 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/286860/tn-celebrates-removal-nithyananda-mutt.html