Udupi is a divine shrine in the coastal region of Western Ghats. Situated about 60 kms from Mangalore, it is a fairly large and upcoming town that was sanctum of Madhvacharya, the great Sanskrit Philosopher. The famous temple here, has a fascinating idol of Lord Krishna that is richly adorned with jewels. It is the center for education, social and religious activities in the district of South Canara. It is known for the famous Sri Krishna temple. The reasons for its fame are the statue of Sri Krishna installed by the great saint Sri Madhvacharya and the penance and influence of Sri Vaadiraja yathivarenya. Another attraction of this temple is the 'Kanakana Kindi' -a small window through which Krishna is believed to have given darshan to his ardent devotee, Kanakadasa.
Popular belief is that King RamaBhoja, an ardent follower of Parashurama installed the statue of Anantheshwara. Chandreshwara temple was built in the spot where Chandra (the moon) performed a penance, to get rid of the curse of Daksha Prajapathi. The place where Chandra meditated got to be called as Udupi. (Udu = a star and pa = follower) The usual practice in Udupi is to visit Chandreswara, Anantheshwara temples and then visit Sri Krishna temple. There is many interesting stories behind the installation of statue of Sri Krishna at Udupi.
One of the popular story goes like this. The main statue of Sri Krishna at Dwaraka got completely covered by gopichandanam ( holy sandlewood). 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 sandlewood peice 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.
According to the respected mathadeesha, Sri Raghuvarya thirtha the story behind the installation of statue of Sri Krishna goes on like this. Because of the storm, the ship crashed to a rock and sank, the statue also sank along with the other cargo. After a few days when Sri Madhvacharya came to Udupi for spreading his philosophy among the masses, all of a sudden he woke from his meditation one day and traveled to Malpe with his disciples.
As if he had discovered a new light, he took out the statue from the ocean, took it to Udupi and put it into the pond near the matt. Later, on Sankranthi, he removed it from the pond, installed it in the main sanctum of the matt and arranged for the daily worship of the statue. The pond where the statue was bathed came to be known as the famous Madhva sarovar and the sanctum where the statue was installed became famous as the Krishna temple. There are sources telling Sri Madhvacharya installed the statue in the later part of 13th century.
According to the respected mathadeesha, Sri Raghuvarya thirtha the story behind the installation of statue of Sri Krishna goes on like this. Because of the storm, the ship crashed to a rock and sank, the statue also sank along with the other cargo. After a few days when Sri Madhvacharya came to Udupi for spreading his philosophy among the masses, all of a sudden he woke from his meditation one day and traveled to Malpe with his disciples. As if he had discovered a new light, he took out the statue from the ocean, took it to Udupi and put it into the pond near the matt. Later, on Sankranthi, he removed it from the pond, installed it in the main sanctum of the matt and arranged for the daily worship of the statue. The pond where the statue was bathed came to be known as the famous Madhva sarovar and the sanctum where the statue was installed became famous as the Krishna temple. There are sources telling Sri Madhvacharya installed the statue in the later part of 13thcentury.
In the 16th century, during Sri Vaadiraja 's rule, Kanakadasa, an ardent believer of God, came to Udupi to worship Lord Krishna. He was not allowed inside the temple since he was from a lower caste. 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 hole came to be known as KanakanaKindi.
The sight of the beautiful MudduKrishna is available to everybody through the Kanakanakindi.
Devotees perform ceremonies in a large scale daily . The offerings start in the early morning at 5 o’ clock and continue throughout the day without any exceptions. Different festivals like Madhvanavami, Ramanavami, Nrisimha jayanthi, Bhagirathi janmadina, Krishna Leelothsava, Ganesha Chathurthi, Anantha Chathurdashi, Subrahmanya shashti, navarathri dasara, Holi, Vasantha Puja, Jagarana seva, Thulasi Pooja, Laksha deepothsava, Dhanu Pooja are celebrated in the temple. Special ceremonies and religious discourses take place on these festivals. Prior to Makara Sankramana ceremonies are conducted with grandeur and pomp for seven days, called as Sapthothsava. On the eighth day lakhs of people watch the magnificent Churnothsava. Once in two years, on the 18th of January, ceremonies are held in grandeur and pomp during the transfer of the Sri Krishna pooja diksha called as Paryayothsava. Tourists from all over the country and abroad come to Udupi to watch Sapthothsava and Paryayothsava. Another major attraction of Udupi is the golden chariot, which was offered to Lord Sri Krishna.
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