Acharya Satyendra Das, the Chief Priest of the Ayodhya Ram Temple, died on Wednesday at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow at the age of 83, the hospital announced.
After having a stroke on February 3, the priest was taken to the hospital and moved to the Neurology unit HDU. The priest received extensive medical care at SGPGI after initially being admitted to a private hospital in Ayodhya. He was suffering from severe illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure.
His disciple Pradeep Das asserted that the top priest’s body is presently being transported from Lucknow to the temple city, where it would be cremated by the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya.
In his condolence letter, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described the priest’s passing as “an irreparable loss.” “It is very sad and an irreversible loss to the spiritual world that Acharya Shri Satyendra Kumar Das Ji Maharaj, the chief priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Shri Ayodhya Dham and the ultimate devotee of Lord Ram, passed away,” the chief minister said.
Chief Minister Adityanath stopped by SGPGI on Tuesday to see how he was feeling. Prior to the December 6, 1992, demolition of the Babri Mosque, Das served as the main priest of the Ram temple. Just nine months before the tragedy, he had been appointed chief priest.
