VARANASI: The choice of an 86-year-old Vedic scholar from Varanasi to lead the assembly of priests at the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22 is inextricably linked to another watershed moment in Indian history almost 350 years ago: Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation in 1674.
Pt Laxmikant Mathuranath Dixit, an authority on age-old traditions of Vedic rituals, traces his lineage to the renowned 17th-century Kashi scholar Gaga Bhatt, who presided over Shivaji’s ascension as fountainhead of Hindavi Swarajya or an independent Maratha state.
Pt Laxmikant Mathuranath Dixit, an authority on age-old traditions of Vedic rituals, traces his lineage to the renowned 17th-century Kashi scholar Gaga Bhatt, who presided over Shivaji’s ascension as fountainhead of Hindavi Swarajya or an independent Maratha state.