News

SourceKANCHI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, November 15, 2004: The police today interrogated top functionaries of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt and their staff in connection with a murder case involving the Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati. Those questioned include Neelakanta Iyer (administrative head of the Mutt), N Sundareshan Iyer (Mutt manager), Viswanathan (manager of the Kamakshi temple), Ramu (the Mutt’s official photographer), a…

SourceKOCHI, INDIA, November 15, 2004: The Catholic church in Kerala on Monday expressed “deep pain” at the arrest of Kanchi pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi, but held that truth and morality have to be seen objectively, irrespective of religious affiliations. “Spiritual leaders are light to other ordinary persons and they must live accordingly,” church spokesman Father Paul Thelekat said in the first…

Malaysia Hindu SangamKUALA LUMPUR, November 16, 2004: The following letter was sent to the High Commission of India to Malaysia by the president of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, Datuk A. Vaithilingam: We, the leaders of various Hindu based organizations representing more than 1.5 million Hindus living in Malaysia, write to you to register our strong protest on the manner of…

The Hamilton SpectatorHAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, November 2, 2004: It has been over three years since the Hamilton Hindu community was devastated when their temple was burned down after the 9/11 terrorist attacks (by attackers thinking the temple was connected to Islam). However the community pulled together and now in January of 2005 they are preparing to officially open their new…

Edmonton JournalOTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, November 7, 2004: Many Americans enthused with the yoga craze that has swept across North America are now turning to Ayurveda for more consolation and relief from their stressful lives. This news release quotes a website explanation of the Hindu form of medicine, “Ayurveda originated in India more than 5,000 years ago. Derived from the Hindu…

SourceVELLORE, INDIA, November 16, 2004: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi met Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi in jail at Vellore on Tuesday and later termed as “reprehensible” the seer’s arrest in connection with a murder case. “But if there is something let the court decide it. Even swamiji is saying that whatever is the court verdict he will accept…

SourceDELHI, INDIA, November 15, 2004: This report in the Times Online from UK states, in part: A revered Hindu cleric is being held by police in southern India in connection with the brutal murder of a former employee who had apparently threatened to expose alleged financial irregularities in a temple. Jayendra Saraswati is accused of masterminding an attack in which…

SourceKANCHEEPURAM, INDIA, November 13, 2004: After a couple of months of apparent lull, the police now maintain that they did not want to reveal all their cards prematurely and hence their reticence on the progress in the investigation of the Sankararaman murder case, says this article. The police have arrested 14 persons who “confessed” that they had been engaged by…

SourceNEW DELHI, November 15, 2004: Condemning the arrest of Hindu pontiff Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, various Muslim clerics Monday came out in his support, demanding his immediate release and dropping of all charges against him. Imam Bukhari, the chief cleric of India’s largest mosque Jama Masjid, was among prominent Muslim religious leaders who strongly condemned the arrest of the pontiff and…

SourceTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, INDIA, November 15, 2004: Life was paralyzed across Kerala on Monday following a state-wide dawn-to-dusk hartal (general strike) called by the Hindu Aikya Vedi (HAV) to protest against the arrest of Kanchi Kamakoti Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati. No major untoward incidents were reported during the hartal, which was supported by the local unit of the BJP. The HAV is…