Ahobila Mutt head Sri Ranganatha Yatheendra Mahadesikan today stressed the need for creating a trust to protect the vedas and help vedic pandits and said youngsters should be encouraged to study the vedas.
Addressing disciples who had thronged the mutt premises on the occasion of his 60th birthday today, the 46th Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila Mutt said there was a plan to create a corpus of Rs.10-crore for honouring the vedic pandits.
Besides there was need to protect the 'Nilayiya Divya Prapandam' of Alwars also, he said.
Vedic pandits, who had mastered recital of the vedas, "are becoming very rare," he said.
The objective of celebrations like this was to protect the vedas, he added.
The Pattina pravesam (entering the city) of the seer took place last night, when a one km long procession of the devotees went around the Chitra and Uthira streets around the Ranganathaswamy temple here.
Vedic, Sanskrit and Tamil pandits participated in the Pattina pravesam.
