Shivkumara Swamiji , 111 year old Siddaganga Mutt seer passes away - State mourns his demise

Siddaganga Mutt chief Shree Shree Shivkumara Swamiji passed away on Monday. He was 111 years old. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy told that Swamiji breathed his last at 11.44 in the morning. His funeral will be done on Tuesday at four o'clock in the evening.

The Chief Minister said that on the demise of Swamiji, the state will observe a three-day mourning period. At the same time, all schools, colleges and government offices will be on leave on Tuesday. Swamiji was kept on the ventilator due to an infection in the lungs. Kumaraswamy, former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, MB Patil, KJ George, Union Minister Sadanand Gowda came to take his blessings.

On his centenary in 2007, the then Karnataka government had conferred the Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian award in the state, to the seer. In 2015, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan. Kumaraswamy has urged the Centre to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna on the seer.

Consoling his demise Narendra Modi tweeted saying that the seer devoted his life to the poor.

I have had the privilege to visit the Sree Siddaganga Mutt and receive the blessings of His Holiness Dr. Sree Sree Sree Sivakumara Swamigalu.

The wide range of community service initiatives being done there are outstanding and are at an unimaginably large scale. pic.twitter.com/wsmRp2cERd
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 21, 2019