MANGALURU: Lakshmivara Theertha seer, the 30th pontiff of Shiroor Mutt , who passed away on Thursday under mysterious circumstances, was non-controversial throughout most of his 47 years of spiritual life, barring the last few months – following his foray into electoral politics and airing of a controversial video grab.Though, the seers of Astha Mutt have been demanding the Shiroor seer to appoint a junior pontiff, suspecting that latter may appoint his `progeny’ as one, the demand got vociferous when an `off the record’ video was aired by a news channel.In the video, an alleged voice clipping of the seer stated that he had children and other seer’s of Astha Mutt too had children. "Since we are pushed into Sanyasa at a young age, we too have desires," he had stated in the voice clipping that was alleged to be his. But the Shiroor seer, after the clipping was aired, clarified the voice was not his and somebody had mimicked his voice. He also said the clipping was six-months old and he had approached the court against this. In the same video, the seer had claimed threat to his life as he was going against the Astha Mutt seers.The second controversy was regarding the non-handing over of Pattada Devaru (Mutt Deity – Vittala) back to the Shiroor seer, after he had handed it over to one of Astha Mutt seers for conducting daily rituals. Seniormost seer of the Mutt Vishwesha Teertha of Pejawar Mutt had said as the Shiroor seer himself had admitted of not following the ‘Sanyasa dharma’ he was not capable of handling the rituals associated with the Mutt and preserve its sanctity. Therefore, ‘Pattada Devaru’ will not be given back to the Shiroor seer, Pejawar seer had said. The Astha mutt also had imposed condition that the Shiroor seer should appoint junior pontiff to carry out the responsibilities of the Mutt since he was 'incapable' of it.This had gone to such an extent that the Shiroor Seer had filed a caveat at Senior Civil Judge and Civil Judge Courts against all the Ashta Mutt seers, including the junior seers of Admaru and Pejawar Mutts, barring the Puttige Mutt seer, stating that he was being forced to face disputes created by the Ashta Mutt seers. The caveat also stated since he expected them (seers) to file a case against the Shiroor Mutt, he wanted the court not to pass any interim exparte order.According to Ravikiran Murdeshwar, advocate of the Shiroor seer, said the seer had expressed fears to his life since he was planning to go against the seers of Astha Mutts. "The seer had come my office on June 22 and for about two hours, he discussed with me about various wrongdoings in Udupi Mutt. Later, we had filed caveat at Udupi court. And on Wednesday, I had papers readied for filing criminal case against the Astha Mutt seers, barring Puthige Mutt, regarding non-handing over of Pattada devaru Vittal’s (Mutt deity) statues and other statues to him, which he had handed over to the Mutt for safekeeping during his illness. Unfortunately, he became ill and passed away on Thursday morning. Apart from it, he also expressed threat to his life," he told a news channel.The lawyer also said there should be a probe into the mysterious death of the seer. "When scientific tools are available, they should be used to clear doubts regarding the seer’s death," he added.The seer also invited the wrath of the Astha Mutts, after the Shiroor pontiff decided to take a plunge into the electoral fray from Udupi Assembly constituency this year. The seer, an admirer of prime minister Narendra Modi , later withdrew his nomination stating that central BJP leaders had requested him to withdraw his nomination papers in order to support the BJP's official candidate.

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