the journey continues…

Sode/Sonda,a tiny hamlet is the divine resting place of Shri Vadiraja Teerthru,one of the main saints in Madhwa Parmpare or History.After Shri Raghavendra Swamy,Shri Vadiraja Teerthru is the one who has entered the vrindavana alive.Its believed that he still exist inside the vrindavana in this holy place and is blessing his devotees.

Importance of Shri Vadirajaru :
If you search in the internet for “Vadiraja Teertharu/Yatigalu” the first image comes is the below one:

Shri vadirajaru is holding the vessel on his head and a horse is eating that.Its said that Lord Hayagreeva was the favourite god of Shri Vadirajaru.Every day he will prepare the special dish “Hayagreeva Maddi” as Naivedyam for god.He will hold that plate on his head and then Lord Hayagreeva would come in the form a white horse,keep the legs on his shoulders and eat the naivedyam.This explains the importance of Shri Vadirajaru.The naivedyam “Hayagreeva Maddi” is a special sweet offered to god here and in Udupi Krishna Mutt,Sode Mutt now also they prepare it in the same style.
Its said that when Shri Vadirajaru visited the Tirumala,whole hillock looked like a Salagrama to him.He then climbed it on his knees without putting his feet on the hill.He also offered garland of salagramas to Lord Srinivasa.
“Dharmastala” is a popular piligrimage in South Canara and here the Shiva/Iswara idol is installed by Shri Vadirajaru.
Vadirajaru is also popularly called as Bhavi Sameera which means he would be the next Vayu Devaru.

Vrindavana Of Shri Vadirajaru(Pancha Vrindavana) :The below picture shows main Vrindavana of Shri Vadirajaru in the center and other 4 small vrindavanas sorrounded by which have the presence of Brahma,Vishnu,Yavu and Rudra Devaru.

Shri Bhootaraja Temple :
There is a small story you need to know about Bhootarajaru.Vadirajaru had a disciple called Narayanacharya,who was intelligent but ill mannered.So one day Vadirajaru cursed him to become a ghost.
The ghost started haunting in a forest near by hampi.It would ask a question to passers-by and if they don’t answer it will pain them.So one day Vadirajaru himself was passing by that forest.This time Shri Vadirajaru answered his question and from that time onwards the ghost became slave of Shri Vadirajaru and started serving him.
So he became one of the his favourite displies and fondly called as Bhoota-Rajaru.Now also you can see Shri Bhootarajaru Temple very close to vrindavana of Shri Vadirajaru.Shri Bhootarajaru is also called as Bhavi Rudra Devaru.
Here there is unique tradition of rolling coconuts in front of Shri Bhootarajaru.Everyone who visits temple must follow this tradition and suppose if they come in car they also roll 4 coconuts for 4 wheels of the car.

Below picture shows the pooja performed to Bhootarajaru every evening.

There is also a special corner place for Bhootarajaru on the banks of holy water pond which is called as Bhootarajara Moole.Till this date its believed that Shri Bhootarajaru sits in this place.

Shri RamaTrivikrama Temple
The Trivikrama idol here is installed by Shri Vadirajaru.The idol was worshipped by Shri Madhwacharyaru and given to Shri Vadirajaru.Its believed that Bhootarajaru bought the idol from Badari in a chariot.Now also you can see that the sanctum sanctorum is in the form of a chariot.

Sode Mutt
Shri Vadirajaru was very fond of Udupi.So in sode you can see a miniature version of Udupi.Davala Ganga(holy water tank) is similar to Madhwa Sarovar in Udupi,Rudra Devaru (similar to Shri Chandra Moulieeshwara),GopalaKrishna( similar to krishna temple) and Mukhya Prana Devaru.

(Below picture shows the pond and temple of Mukhya Prana).

Seva
Like Mantralaya,here also devotees do many sankalpa sevas.Most of my family members including me have done sevas here and there is no doubt that Shri Vadirajaru will fullfill our wishes.The best time to do seva here is early morning 5AM where its said that all the 300 crores gods make their presence in this holy place to bless the devotees.
How to reach?From Bangalore there are direct buses to Sode which are very convinient.From other places if you want to go then nearest place is Sirsi.There are very few buses from Sirsi to Sode and I believe the last bus is at 4.30 in the evening.This link might be useful for accomodation and seva details.

Other interesting reads:
Shri Vadirajaru
Shri Vadirajaru
Official site Shri Vadirajaru

The Raghavendra Swamy Vrindavana at Papparapatti is popularly known as Dakshina Mantralaya.Its one of the Mruthika and Saligrama Vrindavana of Shri Rayaru which means while making this vrindavana they have taken mruthika and few saligramas from the original Mantralaya Vrindavana.
Apart from Vrindavana,you can also see Mukhyaprana/Lord Anjaneya temple inside the mutt premises.
The mutt has great importance and witnessed many miracles of Sri Rayaru.

(entrance of the mutt inside photography is not allowed)

(Sri Mukhyaprana temple inside the mutt complex)

(Sri ganesha temple,Sri Durga devi,Sri Rudra Devaru and Parvati inside the temple complex)

The mutt is is very calm and quite place.Its inside an agrahara where you can see a lot of small old houses attached to each other.
how to go?
In the internet already there are so many links and maps to reach this mutt.Its around 16km from Dharmapuri,TamilNadu.From Bangalore the place is around 100km reachable via bus/train.Nearest train station is Dharmapuri.
Please refer to these links which gives full location details with phone numbers.
link1 and link2

Whenever I attend my cousin’s or friend’s marriage my point of interest would be the interior decorations done and the coconut carvings which they will make it for Varapooja (one of the main ritual in the karnataka weddings).In olden days (as my granny used to say) wedding preparations will start 2 months earlier.Apart from shopping,they would make all these nice decorative items to gift to groom.
Nowadays no time to do all these on your own but people buy it from shops.In Malleshwaram,Bangalore most of the shops sell all these wedding decorative items.You need to give them order in advance and you can specify what you want to carve on them.
I really like these carvings which shows Indian Women’s Art Sense and how delicately nicely they can carve a coconut in to a beautiful picture.

(Small krishna which is usually given to bride)

(Gauri,Lakshmi and Hanumaan..check out the nicely carved eyes,nose and nose rings and jewels of lakshmi)

(Radha & krishna a romantic pose)

(The ganesha here is inside the coconut.The coconut is split in to halves and then its carved)

(all together nicely done)

This temple is around 25km from Chidambaram,TamilNadu and is dedicated to Lord Shiva.Vaitheeswaran/Vaideeswaran means Lord Doctor in tamil language.So as the name says its believed that Lord Shiva here has the power to cure any illness or diseases.His consort Thaiyalnaayaki(Parvati) is said to accompany him with a vessel containing medicinal oil.
The prasadam offered in the temple is made out of ashes from the homakundam.Its believed the this prasadam has the power to cure any illness.They also distribute a sandal wood paste inside the temple as prasadam.

(Gopuram of the temple which represents the same architecture that we can see in all over TamilNadu)

Holy water pond also called as Siddhamrita Theertham inside the temple which is beautiful.

The temple is also one among the Navagraha Temples of South India.
Angaraka (Mars),one of the Navagrahas was suffering from leprosy and he was cured by Lord Vaitheeswaran here.So the Angaraka shrine here has great importance and indeed unique to this temple.
There is also a Murugan Shrine inside and devotees offer salt,pepper to this shrine.Offerings of jaggery are made in the temple tank Siddhamrita Theertham.

(The tall stone pillars inside and you can also see paintings on the roof)
There is also a shrine which is dedicated to Lord Dhanwantri ( God of Ayurveda) here which is very rare and this gives altogeher a great importance to the temple.