According to people who had been close to him during this period, Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal recognised the faultline in Hinduism that had triggered the conversions and embarked on an attempt to bring in Dalits and other socially oppressed classes into the mainstream Hindu fold. For months, he toured the state extensively, visiting villages, talking to Dalits and other communities. Departing from the usual convention of the mutt, which insisted that the pontiffs travel only by foot, Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal had got some of his devotees to donate a customised van that he used for his travel to these villages.