Chandraswami

Chandraswami was a controversial Indian Tantrik. He is called a godman by many people. His father Dharamchand Jain came from Behror in Rajasthan and worked as a money lender. He moved to Hyderabad when Chandraswami was a child. Chandraswami was attracted to the study of Tantra from an early age. He left home when still young to become a student of Upadhyay Amar Muni and the eminent expert and scholar of Tantra, Mahamohopadhyay Gopinath Kaviraj. He later lived in the jungles of Bihar where he spent time in meditation. He claimed that after four years he obtained extraordinary powers called siddhis. Though Chandraswami was by birth a Jain, he became a "sadhaka" (worshipper) of the Goddess Kali. He was also interested in interfaith dialogue, and sat on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.