Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal
Hindu pontiff
Jagadguru Sri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal (born 13 March 1969) is the 70th Jagadguru Peethadipathi of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Kanchipuram. He became the Peetadhipathi of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham following the Videha mukti of Sri Jayendra Saraswati, the 69th Pontiff, on 28 February 2018.
Biography
Sri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi was born in 1969 as Sankara Narayanan Sastri in Periyapalayam village near Arani in Tiruvallur. He attended a village school in Periyapalayam and studied the Vedas with his father, Sri Krishnamurthy Sastri, a Vedic scholar and teacher. He joined the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham when he was 13 and was named 70th Peethadhipati in 1983.
Arrest and acquittal
Vijayendra Saraswati was named as the second accused in the Sankararaman murder case, concerning the killing of a temple official in September 2004. He was arrested at the Kanchi Mutt premises on 10 January 2005; the senior pontiff, Jayendra Saraswathi, had been arrested two months earlier, on 11 November 2004. On 27 November 2013, the Puducherry Principal District and Sessions Court acquitted all 24 accused, including both pontiffs, citing a lack of incriminating evidence.
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