Situated on the Western coast of India, Udupi the land of temples welcomes devotees with open arms. At the heart of this Parshurama Kshetra, lies the Sri Krishna Mutt Udupi along with ancient Chandramoulishwara and Anantheshwara temples.
History of Sri Krishna Mutt, Udupi
Even before the establishment of this popular temple, Udupi was already a sacred land. The ancient temples of Chandramoulishwara and Anantheshwara drew many devotees over the years. Born in Pajaka in 1238 CE, a village 12km south of Udupi, Sri Madhavacharya established not only Dwaith philosophy but also laid the roots of the Sri Krishna Temple.
According to folklore, when Sri Krishna’s wife Rukmini requested her husband for the Murti of Balkrishna (the child form of the Sri). Sri Krishna entrusted Vishwakarma with the task of designing the Murti. He made a beautiful Murti with the sacred Saaligrama stone and gave it to Rukmini to worship. The Murti, in the course of being worshipped by hundreds of devotees at Dwarka with the application of sandalwood paste, got completely covered with the sandalwood paste.
As a consequence of the flood, the Murti washed away from Dwarka. A sailor found it and assumed it to be a rock. He used it to balance his ship. At the same time, the deity appeared in Madhavacharya’s vision. He rescued a nearby ship from the storm and in return only wished for a lump of Gopichandan (clay out of sandalwood) in return. On breaking it, the deity was found and established here 700 years ago.
Sri Krishna Temple
A specialty of this temple is that there are 8 Mutts located around the temple that take turns to look after it, in a cyclic order. Earlier, every mutt used to look after the temple for 2 months. Swami Vadiraj modified this rule to two years.
A Paryaya Mahotsav takes place, celebrating the handover of the care of the temple from one Mutt to another. The eight Mutts, established by Saint Madhvacharya, were named after the villages they’re located at, namely Palimaru, Adumaru, Krishnapura, Puttige, Shiroor, Sode, Kaniyooru, and Pejavara. The headquarters of these Mutts is around the Shree Krishna Temple.
Kanakdasa Story
Before the entrance of the temple, you will notice a window with a massive gopuram (A monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a temple, especially in Southern India) built in the Dravidian style of architecture. Through this…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Inditales…