Udupi, Krishna and Acharya Madhva
vyāsāya bhavanāṣāya śrīṣāya guṇa rāṣhaye|hṛudyāya śuddha vidyāya madhvāya cha namo namaḥa||
The words Udupi and Krishna, almost always mutually take shelter in each other. It is either Krishna's Udupi or Udupi's Krishna. Let us see a brief account on the history of Udupi, Krishna's idol and Acharya Madhva.
Parashurama Kshetra
The area between Arabian sea and the western ghats and from Nasik of Maharashtra in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, is called as Parashurama Kshetra. There is a history for this place.
During the 6th incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Parashurama, he vanquished the clan of Kshatriyas for twenty one times and destroyed the monarchy of dictating kings. He donated the land thus acquired from the evil kings to Kashyapa. Thinking that it is not correct to live in the donated land, he thus ordered the king of samudras: ' I need to create a land to live. And so, you move till the place my arrow falls'. Saying so, he threw the arrow and the Ocean moved towards south. A new land was thus created called 'Parashurama Kshetra'.
The above story has been wonderfully explained by Sri Vadiraja in his Tīrtha Prabandha (TP) and by Sri Krishnavadhuta in his Mandaramakaranda champu (MMC).
Tulu nadu and Sapta Kshetras
In this Parashurama Kshetra, the land between Kasargod and Gokarna was called as Tulu nadu. There are seven sacred lands famous in this erstwhile Tulu nadu [ presently the land including Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada]:
rūpyapīṭham kumārādriḥ kumbhāsī ca dhvareśvaraḥ |kroḍagokarṇa mūkāmbikāḥ saptaitā mokṣadāyikāh ||
Rupyapitha (Udupi), Kumārādri (Subramaṇya), Kumbhāsi(Anegudde), Dhvareśvara (koṭeśvara), Kroḍa (ŚankaraNarayana) and Mūkāmbā (Kollūru); these are the seven sacred lands.
Rupyapitha/ Udupi
The foremost among the seven sacred places of Tulu nadu is Rupyapitha or Udupi. There are many ways that explain the name Udupi for the Rupyapitha. The author of Sri Madhva Vijaya - Sri Narayana Panditacharya says in his Bhāvaprakāśika that Udupi comes from the Tulu name 'Odipu' (for Rupyapitha).
Etymologically if we see in Sanskrit, Udupa means boat (Udupam tu plava kolaḥ). So it might mean, the city in to which Lord Krishna came in the boat. Scholars also say, Udu means star, pa means king. Hence, Uḍupa means king of stars who is the Moon. So Udupi means Shiva who bears the moon in his head. The place in which Chandramoulishvara resides, is Udupi. However, there is no single standard opinion on the etymological meaning of the word Udupi.
Acharya Madhva
Since this land was so sacred, Mukhya Prana himself incarnated in this place as Acharya Madhva in the year 1238 A.D. (at Pajaka -a small village near Udupi). Acharya Madhva propounded the philosophy of Tattvavada ,famously known as Dvaita.
Along with MukhyaPrana, who is foremost among the Jīvas, came the Supreme Godhead. Lord Krishna (idol) who was in Dvaraka, propitiated by the devotion of Acharya Madhva, came down to Udupi crossing the ocean. Thus, along with the already existing two main temples (Ananteshvara and Chandramoulishvara), the third and the most important temple was formed - the temple of Sri Krishna that was propitiated by Acharya Madhva.
Sri Vadiraja explains this wonderfully in his TP as follows:
dvārāvatīm sakalabhāgyavatīmupekṣya gopālabālalalanākarapūjanam ca|vārdhīm vadhūgṛhamatītya sa madhvanātho yatrāsti tad rajatapīṭhapurīyam garīyaḥ||
Leaving the fully opulent Dvaraka, the hospitality of the Gopikas, and the motherland of his beloved wife, when Lord Krishna came down to stay here, listening to the call of Acharya Madhva, is there any limit for the greatness of this Rajatapitha?
Lord Krishna's idol from Dvaraka to Udupi
The idol of Sri Krishna was installed at Udupi by Jagadguru Sri Madhvacharya. Though this story is of utmost importance, Sri Narayana Panditacharya, the biographer of Acharya Madhva, strangely keeps mum about the history of the idol and how Acharya Madhva got this idol.
As per Sri MadhvaVijaya:
gopikā praṇayinaḥ śriya pateḥ ākṛtiḥ daśamatiḥ śilāmayīm|śiṣyakaistricaturairjalāśaye śodhayanniya tato vyagāhayat|| 9.41||sparśanād bhagavato ati pāvanāt sannidhāna padatām gatām hareh|trimśadudyata naraiḥ sudurdharām līlayānayadi māmasau maṭham ||9.42||
PurnaPrajna kept the idol, here in the pond , by getting the stone idol washed by 3-4 of his disciples. The idol of the hero of Gopikas, the consort of Siri. Once the venerable Acharya touched the idol with his pristine hands, the idol got special presence of the Lord and became so heavy that it was impossible even for thirty men to lift the idol. Acharya brought such an idol without any effort to the mutt.
Sri Narayana Panditacharya strangely does not say anything about the history of the idol or anything about how it came to Acharya's possession even in his commentary on Sri MadhvaVijaya.
History of Lord Krishna's idol
Sri Raghuvarya Tīrtha of Palimaru Mutt during the 17th century, tells the story of the installation as below in his Prameyanavamalika tika:
'There are several impediments for one's spiritual endeavor in this Kali age. The kind Acharya wanted to save the good people from such impediments. He wanted to install an idol of Lord Krishna at Udupi. And the background for this, was already created. There was an idol of Lord Krishna in Dvaraka. It was buried in a lump of Gopichandana at a place called Rugminivana. The navigators of a merchandise ship carried the lump, thinking it is just Gopichandana. When the ship came near Udupi, it sank. The idol remained with the wrecks of the ship. Knowing this, Acharya Madhva brought this idol from the bottom of the ocean to Udupi. He made 3-4 of his disciples to wash the idol and he touched the idol and chanted the mantras. Due to this, the idol got special presence of Lord, and became so heavy that even thirty disciples could not lift the idol. Acharya carried this like a small baby to the mutt and installed it there.'
He also gives the history of formation of the idol saying that it is as told by the purvacharyas from the sampradaya as follows:
Once at Dvaraka, Devaki who wished to see the childhood lilas of the Lord, requested Krishna: 'Krishna, Yashodha is fortunate to have seen all your childhood lilas! Can't you show such a lila to me as well?' Understanding the mother's wish, Krishna took the form of a small baby once again and made his mother happy, who gave birth to him. He drank mother's milk by seeing her face being on her lap. Seeing this, Devaki got ravished in bliss. He then got up and broke the pots filled with curds. Ate lumps of butter, and while eating, his body was full of butter. Amusing like this, he bereaved the churning rod (mantha) and the rope (pasha) from his mother's hands. After amusing like this for a while, he vanished that infant form. There was no end to the bliss and amazement of his mother Devaki who saw all this. Even Rugmini devi, who can always see the infinite forms of the Lord, got attracted by this ever refreshing infant form of the Lord and got a similar idol sculpted ( it is believed, she got it sculpted from deva shilpi- Vishvakarma). Rugmini devi, who eternally worships the direct form of Lord, worshipped this idol in many ways just to show the world. Once Krishna ended his incarnation, Arjuna placed this great idol in the Rugminivana. By God's wish, an incident happened. The idol that got immersed in a lump of Gopichandana during the beginning of the Kali age, was transported by some navigators on the ocean, thinking it was a plain lump of Gopichandana. When it came near a village near Udupi, the ship broke and sank. From that time, this incident itself became the name of the village ( this village is Odabhandeshvara). Acharya Madhva, who came to know this, went to the Ocean to bring the Lord. He took out the idol drowned in Ocean and he brought it to Udupi, singing Dvadasha stotras and he installed it there.
However, the present prevalent story about how Acharya got the idol, is with a little difference to the above story:
The history of the idol and it going in the Gopichandana lump is all the same as above. After it was transported by the boatmen, when they were coming near Malpe, there was a storm and the boat was about to drown. The boatmen were shouting and this was heard by Acharya Madhva who was meditating at the shore. He then waved his clothes, after which the storm slowed down and boat reached the shore safely. The captain of the ship was very happy and offered Acharya Madhva to ask anything in the ship. Acharya Madhva, did not wish any other valuable, but only wished the lump of Gopicanadana in the ship. He brought it to Udupi and installed the Krishna idol present in it. This story is also told by Sri Krishnavadhuta Kavi in his Mandara makaranda champu. In this way, Lord Krishna who was worshipped by Rugmiṇi, got worshipped by Acharya Madhva.
kṛṣṇam vande manthapāśadharam divyārbhakākṛtim|śikhābandham trayopetam bhaiśmīm madhvakarārcitam||
The divine idol holds the churning rod in one hand and rope in the other. Salutations to such a Lord who was worshipped by Rugmiṇi and Acharya Madhva. In this way, the benevolent Lord Krishna being the presiding deity, is being worshipped from seven centuries at Udupi. Source- From the writings of Vidyavachaspati Sri Bannanje GovindAcharya.
||Bhāratī ramaṇa mukhyaprāṇāntargata Śri Kṛṣṇārpaṇamastu||
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