Tumakuru: Karnataka's 111-year-old revered seer, Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga Mutt, the most influential leader of the Lingayat community, died early on Monday following a protracted illness.

Thousands of grieving followers gathered at his hermitage where he was shifted to on January 16 on his own request although he had not fully recovered in the hospital where he was warded. He miraculously recovered but breathed his last on Monday morning. As news of his death spread, many men and women broke down outside his ashram.