Indeed, the Shankaracharya, with whom this town is identified, is the most conspicuous non-issue in the May 8 poll to pick a new state assembly.

The pontiff has fallen off the political radar without a whimper although there was an uproar among political outfits when, in a secret midnight swoop, the Tamil Nadu Police arrested him in Andhra Pradesh Nov 12, 2004.

The charge against the Shankaracharya and his coterie, according to the state government, was that they had plotted and killed A. Sankararaman, a junior official of the Vardaraja Perumal temple, for having criticised the pontiff.

The Shankaracharya was earlier at the forefront of the temple-mosque dispute in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. His citadel, the Kanchi mutt, naturally became a home to political bigwigs for years.

However, 17 months on, no one is discussing him on the streets of Kancheepuram, not even the seven candidates the once Shankaracharya-friendly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded in the district.

Before the 2001 assembly poll, rows of politicians of various hues, including AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha, had visited the mutt for the pontiff's blessing. This time no one has bothered.

At the best-known eatery near the busy bus stand here, the breakfast tables are partly empty even at 8 a.m.

Suresh Babu, a 23-year-old waiter, supplies the reason for this unusual quiet with his cups of tea: "The pokiris (goons) have all gone."

There are no loud megaphones on the streets, no pictures of the candidates or of the Shankaracharya.

There are nine assembly constituencies in Kancheepuram district, with 2.6 million voters, of which 1.3 million are women.

In Kancheepuram town, AIADMK legislator Mythili Thirunavakkarasu faces Shakthi Kamalammal of PMK, an ally of the opposition DMK.

Thirunavakkarasu likens the Shankaracharya's arrest to that of MDMK leader Vaiko's. "It was nothing personal. The AIADMK government was implementing the law of the land," she says.

There are also three constituencies here reserved for Dalits. The seat from Sriperumbudur, where Rajiv Gandhi was killed in 1991, has been given to Congress candidate D. Yasoda, who will take on a candidate of the Dalit Panther of India.

Kanchi - as Kancheepuram - was among the first Jain centres of learning 2,400 years ago, and of Buddhism in the first century AD.

In his last days, Hindu saint Adi Sankara lived in Kanchi and worshipped at the Kamakshi temple in the 8th century.

The temple, which normally remains crowded, is rather empty at sunrise. Inside the temple gate is a hoarding with large pictures of the Adi Sankara and the late Paramacharya late Chandrasekhara Saraswathi, along with small pictures of Jayendra and Vijayendra, the present sect heads.

A priest admits that the followers of Jayendra Saraswathi no longer visit here. The Kamakshi temple is patronised by the Nepal royalty.

Congress candidate Yasoda feels: "People will not forget the Shankaracharya (arrest) and teach the Jayalalitha government a lesson."

After his release from Vellore jail in January 2005, Jayendra Saraswathi lives in a small sanctuary at Kalavai, spending much of his time in Chennai or Andhra Pradesh.

The deserted Kanchi mutt, on the main artery of the town, is thus deadly quiet. The large sitting area before Chandrasekhara Saraswathi's statue has only a few elderly women who come every day, anyway.

The expensive audio-visual equipment and computers in the mutt are silent. The pet cow chews its morning cud knowingly as one emerges from the side gate of the mutt, unable to find one single person willing to talk.

Loyalists don't want to be named even as they admit that the issue of Shankaracharya's arrest will make little difference to the AIADMK's performance or that of its opponent DMK.