Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji, the third president of Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Dakshineswar, passed away on Tuesday at 1.15pm. She was 90. The Pravrajika, who took office as the head of the Math and Mission on November 17, 1999, had been suffering from gastro-enteric problems since October 2008 and later developed an acute chest infection. On December 28, a tracheostomy was performed to ease her respiratory distress. Shraddhapranaji was a lecturer at Annie Besant College, in Varanasi, before joining Sister Nivedita Girls’ School in 1948. She was the assistant headmistress and assistant secretary of the school till 1955 before taking over as headmistress and secretary. In 1953, she took the vow of brahmacharya and received sannyasa (the first batch of sannyasinis of the Ramakrishna Order) from Swami Sankarananda, the then president of Belur Math. The Pravrajika became a trustee of Sri Sarada Math when it emerged as an independent entity in 1959. In 1960, she was appointed the assistant secretary of Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. She came to live at Sri Sarada Math in April 1986. After the death of Pravrajika Muktiprana in 1994, she was elected the general secretary, a post that she held till November 17, 1999, before taking over as president of the order. As thousands of devotees thronged the Math, authorities said the Pravrajika’s last rites would be performed late at night at Cossipore mahasmashan after her followers had paid their last respects. Picture by Pradip Sanyal