Srirangam temple Jeeyar passes away

TRICHY: Sri Ranga Narayana Jeeyar, the 50th Jeeyar of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam, passed away at a private hospital in

Trichy

on Wednesday evening. The 88-year-old Jeeyar who was devotedly engaged in serving the Srirangam temple, considered the foremost of all 108 Divya Desam temples, was unwell for over a week. He was admitted to a private hospital at Trichy where he breathed his last.


The senior pontiff was born Sri Varathachariyar at Nayinarpalayam village in Villuppuram district on December 3, 1929. He studied Rig Veda at Sankara Matam in Thiruvanaikaval and mastered

Sanskrit

at Chidambaram. Sri Ranga Narayana Jeeyar started his spiritual life as a priest at Sri Lakshminarayana Perumal temple in Coimbatore in 1959. He was a staunch devotee of Ranganathaswamy temple since his early days and became its 50th Jeeyar at the age of 60. Since then, Sri Ranga Narayana Jeeyar has been receiving top honours during all the significant festivals of Srirangam temple including the opening of Paramapatha Vasal.

The final rites of the pontiff have been scheduled to take place on Thursday at Srirangam in the presence of devotees and mutt disciples. The Jeeyar had accidentally fallen into an open well of Srirangam mutt in May 2016 and recovered from the injuries sustained. Jeeyar was instrumental in hosting the 1,000th birth anniversary celebrations of Vaishnavite reformist Sri

Ramanuja

Acharya at Srirangam.