26-04-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
71st pontiff of Kanchi Math to be anointed on April 30
CHENNAI: Sri Duddu Satya Venkata Surya Subrahmanya Ganesha Sharma Dravid (24) will be anointed the 71st pontiff of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in Kancheepuram on Akshaya Tritiya Day (April 30). Peetathipathi of Kanchi Math, Sri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamigal will give Sanyasa Deeksha to Dravid, a Rig Vedic scholar, a Math announcement said.
The sacred event coincides with the 2534th Jayanthi Mahotsavam (May 2) of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya, who established the Kanchi Math in 482 BCE.
Sources said Dravid has been studying Shastras in Kancheepuram under the direct supervision of Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal for the past year. The preliminary Vedic rituals for the anointment have already begun in his native place in Andhra Pradesh, as well as Kancheepuram. On April 30, anointment rituals will start from 6 am.
Dravid was born in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh in 2001 to Brahmashri Duddu Srinivasa Surya Subrahmanya Dhanvantari and Alivelu Mangadevi.
One of the Vedic students in Kachi Math told TNIE that Dravid has mastered three of the four Vedas — Rig, Yajur and Sama — and has been honoured with the title Salakshana Ganapati. Dravid served as Rig Veda teacher at Sri Gnana Saraswathi Devasthanam in Telangana.
Kanchi Math Manager Sundaresa Iyer called on Collector Kalaiselvi Mohan and invited her to the ceremony.
According to the Kachi Math, Sri Adi Sankara settled down at Kanchi, established the Math and founded a lineage of successors.
