He was instrumental in the Kanchi Math expanding directly into people's service. Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal visited Manasarovar and Kailash in 1998 and became the only Shankaracharya to do so after the Adi Shankara. There he installed the idol of Adi Shankara. One of his important contributions is founding of the Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya, a deemed university in the name of his guru. Under Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal's tenure, Kanchi Math ran the deemed university and dozens of schools and hospitals — territories previously not in the reach of Mutt — besides over 50 traditional Vedic schools and temples. Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal broke the restraining rules of the Math and reached out to the downtrodden. He went to Harijan bastis and attracted thousands of new followers and devotees. He transformed a spiritual and ritualistic Math into a socially vibrant one. This brought Him high popularity and also into interaction with a multitude of social and political leaders in the country. The followers of the mutt call Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal a reformist saint and credit him with ensuring that the preachings of Adi Sankara were spread among people beyond the Brahmin community. This He did by encouraging the spiritual mutt to become more of a social service-oriented one and making it all-inclusive. But at the same time, he did not wish to go down in history merely as a religious figure. He had ambitions of being seen as a seer who understood politics and wanted to have a say in issues facing the nation. It is this approach that led to Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal playing a part in trying to resolve the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute during the NDA rule, by engaging with stakeholders from both communities and the government. During his time as the head seer, Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal launched several charity initiatives such as the ‘Jana Kalyan, Jana Jagaran,’ a movement to "serve the people and awaken the masses". The charity programme aimed to establish temples in Dalit colonies and engage Dalits in temple rituals to expand the Hindu collective beyond the Dravidian polity's anti-upper caste stance, and equating Hinduism with an inherent suspicion of Brahminism. He also appointed Dalit trustees in temples such as Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar. According to people who had been close to him during this period, Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal recognised the faultline