the journey continues…

“Shri Krishnaam Vande jagdgurum”
[I bow to Lord Krishna,the Universal Teacher]
Lord Shri Krishna has been designated as Jagadguru, the Universal Teacher. He is the one who guides all the human beings on the path of welfare irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or nation.

Since my childhood I always listened to the above lines from my dad. Lord Krishna is one among my favorite gods and Udupi, being my home town is always special and close to my heart.

Udupi is one among the 7 Parashurama Kshetras i.e. the places created by Sage Parashurama.History says Parasurama threw his axe from Gokarnam and it fell at Kanyakumari. The sea gave way to land, thus giving rise to all the coastal areas including Udupi.
Apart from Lord Shri Krishna Temple, there are 2 important ancient temples in Udupi.One is Ananteshwara Temple and other is Chandramoulishwara Temple.
In Sanskrit,Udupa means moon. According to history moon prayed Lord Shiva here to get rid of a curse.Lord Shiva was pleased with moon’s prayers and blessed him in the form of Lingam which you can see in Chandramoulishwara Temple.Since moon prayed here the place has got its name Udupi.

Chandramouleeshwara Temple

Lord Parashurama is being worshipped in the form of Lingam in Anateshwara Temple. Linga has been kept on silver base i.e rajata pheetam with snake images carved on it.Hence the place is called as Shiva-belli* i.e. shivalli and Brahmins here as shivalli Brahmins.
It’s a custom here to offer oil to lit lamps to Lord Anateshwara which is believed to be very auspicious.If it doesn’t rain in Udupi people come and offer tender coconut water to Lord Shiva to get rains. The usual practice in Udupi is to visit Chandresmaulishwara, Anantheshwara temples and then visit Sri Krishna temple.

Anateshwara Temple

Krishna Mutt was founded by the great vaishnavite saint Shri Madwacharya. According to history, there was a storm in the sea at Malpe. Shri Madhvacharya was on the shore at the time and saw a ship which was in trouble. He helped the ship to reach the shore to safely. The sailors were very grateful to him and gave him deities of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama which was covered with sandlewood. He did the pratishte (installation ceremony) of the deity of Lord Balarama near Malpe. This temple is known as Vadabhandeshwara. He brought the deity of Lord Krishna and did the pratishte at Udupi. This temple is known as Krishna Mutt.

Most of the tourists visit Malpe Beach but they are not aware of the Balarama temple which is a must visit in Udupi.

There is a small tank behind the shrine known as Madhva Sarovara.The Swamijis have to take bath in this tank before worshipping the shrine.Its believed that once in every twelve years the sacred Ganges flows into this tank.
As we enter inside,we can see a small statue of ChennaKeshava.There is a door behind that statue which would be opened only on Vijayadashami and only the Swamijis of the temple are permitted to enter this after bathing in the tank.

Madwa Sarovara

There is no front door to the Sanctorum. Instead, you need to see through a window to get a darshan of the idol.The window is called as Navagraha Kindi.

Navagraha Kindi

There is also one more window called Kanakana Kindi. Kanakadasa, an ardent believer of God comes to Udupi to see Lord Krishna.But as he was from a lower caste,he was not permitted to enter the temple.Sri Krishna, pleased by the worship of Kanakadasa created a small hole in the back wall of the temple and turned to face the hole so that Kanakadasa could see him.This window is known as Kanakana Kindi.

Kanakana Kindi

There are 2 shrines inside the temple in front of Lord Krishna.One is MukhyaPrana [Hanumaan] and othere is Garuda.Its believed Sage Shri Vadirajaru brought this from Ayodhya and installed them here.Mukhyapraana is the most powerful deity here. All dishes offered to Lord Krishna are later on brought here and offered to Mukhyapraana.Rangapooje is one of the special rituals performed here everyday.
Its interesting to know that lamps burning by the side of Krishna idol were lighted by Shri Madwacharya and till now they are not allowed to get extinguished.

Daily many sevas are performed to Lord Krishna.The one that I choose most of the times is Hallu Benne Seve i.e Milk & Butter Pooja. As Lord Krishna likes butter,milk so much we always prefer to do this seva.

Further you proceed inside the temple you can see a big dining hall.In south canara almost all the temples serve lunch and dinner to deities everyday and krishna mutt is not an exception.People here believe that Annadaanam is the greatest daanam and everybody who visits the temple should not go back without having lunch.

The dining hall is called as Bhojana Shala and there is a small shrine of Mukhyyapraana inside the bhoojana Shala called as Bhojana Shale Hanumanta.The food is offered to this deity and then served.There is a special ritual here eating lunch on the floor which is considered to be very auspicious.Every saturday many dieties pray here and eat on the plain floor [without any leaf].

Bhojana Shala Hanumanta

There is also one more dining hall called as Chouki where all the Swamijis will have the lunch along with dieties.

Dining Hall Chowki

There is a temple of Lord Subramanya inside.Its believed that there is a huge golden treasury inside and a serpent is guarding that.Sri Vadiraja constructed this serpent shrine.

Subhramanya Temple

Apart from these there is a Navagraha Temple inside which has been built recently.
Photos are from my collection and some from internet.
Courtesy : http://www.udupishiroormutt.in/

Hanuma Bheema Madhwa

Rigveda says Mukyaprana came in three incarnations (avatars) to lead the world as a Marga Darshaka (guide), and to uplift the world.His first avatar was Hanuman,second is Bhim and third is great saint Shri Madhwacharya.

Ananta Padmanabha Mandira in Pajaka is the home/birthplace of Sri Madhva. Here you can see a small shrine dedicated to Sri Ananta Padmanabha. Vasudeva [ original name of Shri Madhwacharya] spent his child hood in this house.There are some archaeological evidences of the life and times of Sri Madhwacharya at this place.
One such spot is the stone where his Aksharabhyasa was done.Now also people will come here and do the Aksharabhyasa for their kids on the same stone.

shila

There is small pond called Vasudeva Teertha in the house. Madhwaharys’s parents used to collect water from 4 near by ponds [Parashutirtha ,Dhanustirtha , Baanatirtha, and Gadhaatirtha which are created by Parashurama] to take bath and perform daily rituals.When they become old,they couldn’t able to go,so Vasudeva created a fifth pond which has water from all the 4 ponds and it is called as Vasudeva Teertha.Taking dip in this pond is equivalent is to taking bath in all the other 4 ponds.

Once his father had incurred some debts.That time Shri.Madhwacharya took the creditor under a big tamarind tree and gave him handful of tamarind seeds.Those tamarind seeds turned in to gold coins.Now also there is a big tamarind tree in that place.

tamarind tree

You can also see 2 big stones which the small boy Vasudeva had kept on the pots where his mom had kept curd and milk.

mosaru patre

Manimanta was a demon and he tried to kill Vasudeva.Vasudeva used his big toe to press down on the demon’s head, and killed him. The impression of Vasudeva’s toe where Manimanta was slain, can still be seen in Pajaka.

Near by there is Madhva Mandira.
This is the place where Sri Vadiraja Swamy has installed the idol of Sri Madhva Acharya. You can also see the foot prints of Sri Acharya here.

Other places of interest here are
>>Kunjaru Giri Temple
which is 1km from Pajaka where Sri Durga resides. This small hillock is very beautiful giving the glimpses of Western ghats one side, Manipal at the another other side and the Arabian sea. You can do a nice trekking to reach the top.

>> Parashurama Temple
Opposite to the KunjaruGiri, there’s one more hillock where a temple is built for Lord Parashurama. At the base of the foot hill is one of the teertha he created thorwing his weapons which is called as Bana Teertha.

Bana Teertha

There are buses from Udupi to Pajaka but the frequency is less.
http://www.pajakakshetra.org/index.html is the official site of Pajaka Kshetra.

Jomlu teertha is a small water fall created by River Seethanadi. It is around 35km from Udupi and 10km from Hebri. Teertha means holy water in kannada.
Water falls from a small height and you can take a nice bath.
Ideal picnic spot and a weekend gateway from Udupi.There are buses to hebri from Udupi and from there you need to take a private vehicle.No food is available on the spot and you definitely need to carry some food.We spent a whole day there took bath,had lunch and did fishing also .
My dad had an interesting conversation with the local guy there ..
Dad – why very less crowd nowadays ?
Local guy – Not many come here because of Naxalites.
Dad – Oh is it ?
Local guy – Yes they are everywhere. Usually they don’t do anything to local people but they target tourists for money etc.
Dad – Yeah, if they started troubling the locals, they wouldn’t be able to exist here at all !!! [ little sarcastic ]

falls

fishing

Hanumangundi falls is one among the few falls that I always liked.Water falls from a height of 100 ft
and is situated amidst the deep forest.I have visited this falls during my college days.Those days there were no steps to reach the base and we used to do real trekking.Now the forest department has constructed nice steps, and you need to scale down around 300 steps to reach the base. Hanumangundi falls is well maintained by the forest department and you need to pay an entrance fee of 30 Rs per head.
No food is available on the spot.
If you are going with family should be careful with small children as most of the steps are steep and slippery.Water accumulates in a small pond in front of the falls where you should never try to swim/dive as its very dangerous.

Hanumanagundi Falls