the appointmentnithyananda was restricted by the court from entering the mutt but this order was partially modified allowing him to enter the mutt as a devotee nithyanandas petition seeking to quash the adheenam order revoking his appointment besides other petitions are pending in the courts the issue of successor to sri arunagirinathar may continue to be fought in courtrooms as nithyananda makes a fresh bid even as the end came near for the 292nd pontiff last week his chamber at the madurai aadheenam was sealed by the pontiff of the dharmapuram adheenam masilamani swamigal from mayiladuthurai seen as a bid to prevent nithyananda from occupying the seat of the adheenamthe adheenam seeks to elevate junior pontiff sundaramoorthy thambiran as the 293rd guru he had earlier served in the shaivite maths at kundrakudi dharmapuram and thiruvaduthurai the other shaivite adheenams of the state are exerting pressure on the tamil nadu government to support their choice of a pontiff in keeping with the shaivite traditions of the madurai adheenam and preventing a comeback bid by nithyanandathe tamil nadu government which usually stays away had in 2012 told the court that it would take over the mutt in view of the various charges against the institution and that the appointment of nithyananda as pontiff was illegal it remains to be seen if the present dmk government would continue on the same line and take over the adheenam or back the move of the other adheenams to have a new pontiff of their choicemeanwhile nithyananda who issued a statement from the land of kailasa condoling the death of sri arunagirinathar announced 13day mourning and said he would confer sainthood on sri arunagirinathar he also declared himself as the 293rd pontiff of the madurai adheenam and announced that he had taken charge over the past few years nithyananda has created a buzz by declaring that he had set up a kailasa nation with its own currency and invited people to join the nation as ecitizens all these pronouncements were made using the twitter handle even as the union government said it had no knowledge of his whereabouts this invited derisive comments from netizens who have trolled the godman for his claims as well as the union government for its inability to track down the man the events in the next few months could get curiouser and curiouserthe writer is a senior journalist