Udupi - Madhavacharya Headquarters

Shree Krishna Temple Udipi is first among the seven places of pilgrimages. Thousands of pious devotees throng the Udupi Krishna temple all round the year to catch a glimpse of Lord Krishna. The unique feature of Shree Krishna Mutt temple is that the Lord is worshipped only through a window with nine holes called the Navagraha Kitiki.

The window is exquisitely carved and silver - plated. It has been a tradition in this temple to worship the Lord only through this window. Legeds of Krishna Mutt Udupi 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 13th century. 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 Kanakana Kindi. The sight of the beautiful Muddu Krishna is available to everybody through the Kanakanakindi.

St. Mary's Islands also known as Coconut Island, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka, India. They are known for their distinctive geological formation of columnar basaltic lava (pictured).

Scientific studies indicate that the basalt of the St. Mary’s Islands was formed by sub-aerial subvolcanic activity, because at that time Madagascar was attached to India. The rifting of Madagascar took place around 88 Ma.

The islands form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, out of the 26 ‘‘Geological Monuments of India’’ declared by the Geological Survey of India in 2001. The monument is considered an important site for "Geo Tourism".

The Islands are bereft of buildings, fences, shops. There are no domestic animals either. There are only covered pavilions with park benches on the shore and further inland. Visitors can wander around freely and enjoy the hexagonal formations from vanatge locations. Visitors have to carry drinking water and sun screens since the climate is either very hot or hot. Since the last few yards of the approach to the island involves wading, it may be preferable to avoid wearing sneakers.