Death of a priest by 26 stab wounds: Row over 10th-century Math’s land under spotlight

Investigators and trust members talk of an escalating dispute between Devanand and Rai, who represented the trust in a civil dispute over nominations to the Math body that controls the shrine and its vast properties.

Devanand’s family says that five months before he was killed, he received death threats, asking him to leave the Math. “These recordings have been given to police,” his brother Budhraj Gurjar says.

A view of Chandresal temple in Kota, Rajasthan. (Express photo Parul Kulshrestha)

Born Dev Shankar Poswal in Rajwana village of Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district, and married at the age of 15 in 2006, Devanand had left home in 2018 and announced renunciation of the world. He was earlier affiliated with the Juna Akhada, which is part of the Dashnam Sanyasi monastic order as the Chandresal Math. What’s different is that while the Math follows the Ban Panth, a scholar-ascetic tradition, Juna Akhada follows the Giri Panth, a warrior-ascetic tradition.

Fissures followed as shifting between the two orders is traditionally not permitted. “When he joined, a lot of people had objections,” admits Brijmohan, 70, a member of the Chandresal Mahadev Mandir Trust.

Alongside the sectarian differences, there were also caste undercurrents, with a section of the trustees accusing Devanand of “favouring” his members of his own Gurjar community. A trust member says: “Gurjars wanted him to take charge of the Math so that their possession of the land would remain secure.”

But it wasn’t until 2024, when Devanand allegedly began “consolidating power”, that the dispute took its present form. At the heart of it were 345 bighas, or 215 acres, of disputed temple land.

A view of Chandresal temple in Kota, Rajasthan. (Express photo: Parul Kulshrestha)

Temple land at the centre of the dispute

Investigators and trust members say the dispute dates back nearly half a century, when the then mahant, Sharavan Ban, decided to sell 500 bighas of temple land, much of which passed into private hands. In 1998, after discovering that donated land had been alienated, residents of nearby villages filed a civil suit to recover 345 of the 500 bighas they had managed to trace.

In 2003, while court proceedings were underway, residents approached the state government to register a trust – a move that shifted control of the Math’s assets away from the mahant, leaving him only as caretaker and manager. Sharavan Ban’s family argued at the time that the land was their private property.

In 2016, after years of hearings, the court held that the properties belonged to the Math. However, says a trust member, “the court appointed a receiver until the property dispute and all related appeals were finally disposed of”.

The member says the court also held that 270 of the 345 bighas were agricultural land, and would be auctioned off every year by the tehsildar, with the money deposited in a bank account. “This now amounts to Rs 4 crore. This money too has become a point of dispute,” says the member.

The order was challenged before the court of the Additional District Judge-I, where the matter remains pending. The last hearing was on May 27.

A view of Chandresal temple in Kota, Rajasthan. (Express photo Parul Kulshrestha)

A fresh turn

Earlier this year, Rai entered the picture, at a time when the Math was already divided between those for and against Devanand.

Rai reportedly offered to fight the case free of charge, but gradually gained influence among Devanand’s opponents. Trust members claim Rai also sought to place his own nominees in the seven vacant trust positions, potentially giving him control over the Math’s properties, undercutting Devanand. Elderly trustees also relied on Rai to handle the litigation, allowing him to become a key figure in trust affairs.

Says a trust member: “Rai used to visit the Math and got in touch with other members, representing them in court… But Devanand didn’t cede.” On the other hand, he joined the fight, backing his own supporters in the trust.

Records of the Rajasthan’s Devasthan Department, which manages the state’s religious endowments, trusts and historic temples, show Devanand had applied to add names to the trust, a move Rai objected to.

The hearing was on June 10, says a department official, calling Devanand’s application “routine”. On June 5, Devanand was killed.

A trust member says that Devanand’s assertion of authority followed long periods of absence from the Math, as he spent most of his time at the Sawai Madhopur ashram. “He was asked once what he would do if the Devasthan Department’s decision did not go his way. He replied, ‘Jiski lathi, uski bhains’, implying that he was not averse to using force.”

Math member Madan Jain says that while the shrine has seen incidents of attacks, there had never been a killing before. “Sharavan Ban was attacked with lathis on the Math premises, after which he started living nearby and would just perform pooja. His successor, Kishore Ban, too, was attacked twice, prompting him to abdicate.”

The four men who allegedly carried out the killing of Devanand – Aditya Verma, Ankit Bairwa, Pushpendra Singh and a minor – were paid Rs 1 lakh, police say. Verma’s wife Mikal George has been arrested for allegedly destroying evidence. A guard posted at the Math has also been arrested.