Lingayat seer Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga mutt passes away at 111; three-day mourning declared in Karnataka

Lingayat seer Shivakumara Swamiji of the Siddaganga mutt passed away at the age of 111 on Monday. The cremation will be held on Tuesday at 4.30 pm in Tumakuru.

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy: Siddaganga Math seer Sri Shivakumara Swamiji passed away at 11.44 am today. The cremation will be done on 22nd January at 4.30 pm. pic.twitter.com/xG9O70vSbE

— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2019

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy announced the demise of the seer and paid tributes along with state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa. He announced one-day government holiday on Tuesday and three-day state mourning. Kumaraswamy earlier visited the mutt, where Yeddyurappa, Karnataka home minister MB Patil, KJ George and Union minister Sadananda Gowda were also present. News18 reported that the seer had been doing rounds of the hospital for the past two months. Siddaganga Hospital head Dr Paramesh Shivana told reporters that the seer’s protein levels and blood pressure were low early on Monday. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and MB Patil, along with the district administration, will be holding a meeting to discuss security arrangements and to check the precautionary measures to be put in place. On his 100th birth anniversary in 2007, the then Karnataka government had conferred him the Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian award in the state. In 2015, the Centre awarded him the Padma Bhushan. Kumaraswamy has demanded that the seer be awarded the prestigious Bharat Ratna. He said that he will write, as well as meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tp push for his request. “Honours like the Bharat Ratna will have value when it recognises people like Swamiji,” Kumaraswami was quoted as saying earlier by News18.