Chief priest Acharya Laxmikant Dixit, who consecrated the Ram temple in Ayodhya, passed away in Varanasi. His last rites were performed at Manikarnika Ghat.
VARANASI:
Acharya Laxmikant Dixit
, the chief priest who had performed the
consecration
of the Ram temple in
Ayodhya
, passed away on Saturday in Varanasi. Dixit, 86, fell at his residence in the early hours and died. His mortal remains were consigned to flames at Manikarnika Ghat. "My father was well in the morning. He was busy in his routine activities when he suddenly fell on the floor and died around 6.45 am," the legendary ritualist's son Arun Dixit told TOI.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the death of Acharya Dixit.
In a post on X, he said, "I received the sad news of the demise of the country's eminent scholar and Yajurveda teacher of Sangveda Vidyalaya, Laxmikant Dixit ji. Dixit ji was a renowned man of the scholarly tradition of Kashi. I got his company on the inauguration day of Kashi Vishwanath Dham and Ram Temple. His demise is an irreparable loss for society."
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth also took to his official X handle and expressed his condolences. He said, "The demise of Vedmurti, Acharya Shri Laxmikant Dixit, the great scholar of Kashi and the chief priest of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Pran Pratishtha, is an irreparable loss to the world of spirituality and literature." "He will always be remembered for his service to Sanskrit language and Indian culture. It is a prayer to Lord Shri Ram to grant the departed saint a place at his feet and his disciples and followers the strength to bear this sorrow," CM Yogi added.
Dixit, whose lineage tradition (vansh parampara) went back to the renowned 17th century Kashi scholar, Gaga Bhatt who presided over the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji, led a team of 121 priests at the consecration ceremony on January 22.
Having specialisation in Srauta (Sanskrit word rooted in Sruti - that which is heard), Smarta (based on Smriti which are specific body of Hindu texts), Yajna, consecration and other rituals, Dixit;s family, originally from Maharashtra, had dwelled in Kashi for the past 10 generations.
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