Travelogue India and Overseas

Udupi Krishna Visit - 2010

Udupi 60 Kms from Mangalore is central attraction for devotees because of divine shrine of Lord Sri Krishna. Built in 13th century, Sri Krishna temple has an alluring idol of Krishna which is adorned with beautiful jewels. Sreeman Madwacharya, the great Sanskrit Philosopher and the founder of Dwaita system, installed the statue of the Sri Krishna at Udupi. He gave sanyasa deekshe to eight of his disciples and commissioned them not only to carry on the worship of idol Sri Krishna but also propagate Dwaita Philosophy. The pontiff of each of eight mutts carries on the worship of the idol for a period of two years by rotation. These Mutts are :

. Sri Palimar Mutt

. Sri Admar Mutt

. Sri Krishnapur Mutt

. Sri Puttige Mutt

. Sri Sirur Mutt

. Sri Sode Mutt

. Sri Kaniyoor Mutt

. Sri Pejavar Mutt.

Temple is very famous because of the ‘Kanakana kindi’- a small window through which Krishna believed to have given darshan to his ardent devotee Kanakadasa.

History:

Temple has many interesting stories related to it. One of the story goes like this. The main statue of Sri Krishna at Dwaraka got completely covered by gopichandanam ( holy sandal wood). A sailor from Dwaraka loaded this heavy lump in his boat as ballast, in one of his trips along the west coast. The ship was caught in a terrible storm while sailing in the western coast of Malpe. When the meditating Sri Madhvacharya sensed this by his ‘aparoksha’ or divine jnana (knowledge), he got the ship safely to the shore by waving the end of his saffron robe and quietening the storm. The pleased captain of the ship offered Sri Madhvacharya anything in the ship in return. Sri Madhvacharya asked for the sandalwood piece containing the statue of Sri Krishna. Later as the story goes, Sri Madhvacharya took it to the lake, purified it and installed it in the matt.