Udupi - Karnataka

Below is a summary of the Origin of the Punyakhetra Udupi as Extracted from Karnataka Tourism Website.

History

About 60 Kms from Mangalore 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. Sri Krishna Mutt, Udupi. The main 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. Lord Narayana, in his incarnation as Parasurama, after making twenty one assaults on the Kshatriyas and destroying them, performed a great yajna. In this yajna, he gave away all the land as gift to Brahmins. Finding that he was not left with any land for himself and reluctant to stay in the land already given away as gift, he reclaimed from the Arabian sea a strip of land from Gokarna to cape Comorin. This coastal strip of land, obtained by Parasurama from Varuna the Sea God, is known as Parasurama Kshetra or Parasurama's land. Ramaboja, a great devotee of Parasurama, was proclaimed king of this land. Intending to perform Ashwamedha yajna or horse sacrifice, Ramabhoja got the site for sacrificial fire ploughed up. While ploughing, a serpent got killed by the ploughshare. Although this serpent was nothing but a demon in disguise, Ramabhoja was greatly worried as it was a sin to kill a serpent. To atone this sin, he was directed by lord Parasurama to build a big silver pedestal with the image of a serpent at each of its four corners and to worship him who would be seated in spirit on the pedestal and also to distribute gold equal to his own weight to deserving persons. Ramabhoja did likewise and performed the Aswamedha yajna successfully. At its conclusion, Lord Parasurama appeared and declared that he was pleased with the yajna and that henceforth the sacrificial land 'Roopya Peetha' (silver pedestal) would become a famous pilgrimage. This land is also known as 'Thoulava' land and because Ramabhoja performed 'Tulabhara'. This in brief is the ancient history or the legend, of this land. This Roopya Peetha land is now known as Udupi. The name has been derived from the Moon. The moon was once cursed by Daksha Prajapati. To ward off his curse, the moon performed penance in propitiation of God Iswara in this forest land. Iswara was pleased, appeared before the moon and removed the evil effects of the curse. This place has since been known as Chandramuleeswar and there is an ancient temple of this name in this place. The actual spot where the moon performed penance is known as Abjaranya. There is a sacred tank Chandra-Pushkarani by its side. In Sanskrit, 'Udu' means stars; 'pa' means lord of. Hence 'Udupa' means lord of the stars, that is, moon. The place where the moon performed penance and obtained grace is known as Udupi.

UDUPI SRI KRISHNAIt is believed that the idol of Sri Krishna, installed in Udupi by Sri Madhvacharya, was got made by Sri Krishna himself by Viswakarma out of Saligrama stone. Towards the end of Dwapara yuga, Devaki felt a keen desire to see once again Krishna's balaleelas. These leelas which were enacted by Krishna for the benefit of his mother were also witnessed incognito by his wife Rukmini, who falling in love with this balaroopa requested him to get her a similar image for her daily worship. Thereupon Sri Krishna asked Viswakarma to make such an idol of Balakrishna with a churn in its right hand and a cord in the other.

This idol was daily worshipped by Rukmini. After Sri Krishna's disappearance from this world, the idol fell into the hands of Arjuna, who hid it in Rukmini's garden. By lapse of time the idol got completely covered by gopichandanam. A sailor from Dwaraka loaded this heavy lump in his boat as ballast, in one of his trips along the west coast. Lord Sri Krishna, Udupi.

Sri Madhvacharya, sensing this by his 'Aparoksha' or divine gnana, awaited the arrival of this precious ballast at Vadabhandeswar, a seashore spot near Udupi. When the boat approached that place it was caught by severe storm and was about to sink.

The captain of the boat, seeing a holy man on the sea shore entreated him to save him from disaster. Sri Madhvacharya waved his upper cloth and quieted the storm. The grateful captain offered all the riches in his boat to the Acharaya but he accepted from out of the lot only the lump of 'gopichandana' which was used as ballast. On breaking this, Sri Acharya found the beautiful and perfect idol of Sri Krishna. He carried the idol to Udupi, a distance of four miles, singing the praise of Lord Narayana in ecstasy. These hymns under twelve chapters are called " Dwadasa Stotra". He washed the idol of Sri Krishna in Madhwa Sarovara and installed it in the temple nearby and started worshipping it. These poojas have been going on since then even to this day in unbroken continuity. Since Sri Madhwacharya's time, these poojas are being conducted by his disciples who are all 'balasanayasis'. The right of touching and worshipping this idol rests with the pontiff of these eight mutts only who are the spiritual descendants of Sri Madhvacharya. No one else is permitted to touch the idol.

SRI KRISHNA MUTT

Udupi is famous for its Sri Krishna Mutt which though small is quite beautiful. There is no front door for this mutt. Instead there is a small window through which one could always get the darshana of the idol from outside the mutt. In front of the window there is a small 'gopuram'. The main entrance to the mutt is on the southern side. As one enters, on the right side is a tank called Madhwa Pushkarani. This tank has stone steps all round and a mantapam in the center.

Photo by Mythreyee.

Sri Panduranga Vittala

Vithal, or Vitthal, or Vithoba, or Pandurang (a form of Krishna) is worshipped in some temples in Kerala. Vittala's original temple is at Pandharpur, Maharashtra. It is located 65 km west of Solapur, on the banks of the river Bhimarathi also known as Chandrabhaga. Phandarpur is referred as Pandaripuram by GSBs in Kerala.

The name Vithoba means Father Vitthala. Vitthala is said to have been derived from the word Vishnu in Kannada. Panduranga is a sanskritized form of Pandarga, the old name of Pandharpur.

Story of Panduranga Vittala

It is said that the devotee Pundalik founded Pandharpur. His father Janudeva and mother Satyavati lived in a thick forest called Dandirvan.

Pundalik was a devoted son but soon after his marriage he began to ill-treat his parents. To escape from this misery, the parents decided to go on a pilgrimage to Kashi. When Pundalik's wife learnt about this, she also decided to go. She and her husband joined the same group of pilgrims on horseback. While the son and his wife rode on horseback, the old couple walked. Every evening when the party camped for the night, the son forced his parents to groom the horses and do other jobs. The poor parents cursed the day they decided to go on a pilgrimage.Soon the party reached the ashrama of the great sage Kukkutswami. There they decided to spend a couple of nights. They were all tired and soon fell asleep-except Pundalik who could not sleep. Just before daybreak he saw a group of beautiful, young women, dressed in dirty clothes, enter the ashrama, clean the floor, fetch water and wash the swami's clothes. Then they entered the inner room of the ashrama, and came out in beautifully clean clothes and passing near Pundalik, they vanished.

Next night he saw the same sight again. Pundalik threw himself at their feet and begged them to tell who they were. They said they were Ganga, Yamuna and other holy rivers of India in which the Pilgrims bathed and washed off sins. Their clothes became dirty by the sins of the bathing pilgrims."And because of your ill-treatment of your parents," they said, "You are the greatest sinner."This brought about a complete change in him and he became the most devoted son. Now the parents' rode the horses while the son and his wife walked by their side. By their love and affection, the son and his wife urged the parents to give up the pilgrimage and return to Dandirvan.

One day it so happened that Lord Krishna, the King of Dwarka, while feeling lonely, was reminded of his early days in Mathura. He particularly remembered his sports with the milkmaids, the cowherd boys, and his love, Radha. Though she was dead, he longed to see her again. By his divine powers he brought her back to life and seated her by his side. Just then his queen, Rukmini, entered the room. When Radha did not rise to pay her respect, Rukmini left Dwarka in anger and hid herself in Dandirvan forest. After some days, Lord Krishna set off in search of Rukmini. He first went to Mathura, then to Gokul. He met the milkmaids and cowherd boys. They too joined in the search. They went to Mount Govardhan in her search.At last they reached the banks of the river Bhima in the Deccan. Krishna left his companions at Goplapura, and he himself entered Dandirvan forest alone in search of her. At last he found her and managed to calm her. Krishna and Rukmini came to Pundalik's ashrama.

But at that time Pundalik was busy attending to his parents. Though he knew Lord Krishna had come to see him, he refused to pay his respect to the god before his duty towards his parents was done. He, however, threw a brick outside for lord Krishna to stand upon. Impressed by Pundalik's devotion to his parents, Lord Krishna did not mind the delay. Standing on the brick he waited for Pundalik. When Pundalik came out and begged God's pardon, Lord Krishna replied that far from being displeased, he was pleased with his love for his parents. Lord Krishna then ordered him to worship Vithoba, or God who stood upon a brick.

An imposing temple was built at the place where Krishna and Pundalik had met. Inside the temple stands Krishna's image on a brick. By his side stands the image of Rukmini.This temple covering a vast area has a total of six gates.

The eastern entrance to this temple is known as the Namdev gate (after the great 13th century Vaishnava saint). The sanctum enshrines the standing image of Vithoba also known as Panduranga, Pandhari or Vitthala. Stylistically the image dates back to the 5th century. There are inscriptions in this temple dating back to the 13th century which place origin of this shrine to the 6th century.

Extracted from http://www.gsbkerala.com/panduranga.htm