Sri Vadiraja Teertha

Sri Vadirajateertha (1480 - 1600), a Haridasa, was a Shivalli Tulu Brahmin from Udupi. He is considered the second greatest saint in the Madhva hierarchy, next only to Ananda Tîrtha. He is regarded as an incarnation of Latavya. He was not only a great poet but also very effective in bringing changes to the administration of the Udupi Matha system.

He became a Sanyasi at the young age of 8. He worshipped Lord Vishnu in the form of Hayagriva and used to offer daily prasadam to Lord Hayagriva by holding the prasada on his head. Lord Hayagriva is said to have appeared in the form of a horse and consumed the prasadam by kneeling on Vadirajateertha's shoulders.

Sri Vadirajateertha was a great scholar and was able to accommodate the needs of the less scholarly. He took the Haridasa tradition to the masses by translating many important works into the Kannada language. He was able to explain sophisticated concepts in the form of simple Stotras. His work is said to have marked a new and necessary phase in the history of Dvaita literature which produced other popular exponents of Madhva-Siddhânta, both in Sanskrit and in Kannada.

It was Sri Vadirajateertha who changed the Paryaya system of Udupi to two years from the earlier practice of 2 months. This extension of each individual Paryaya enabled the Swamis to travel far and wide and spread the message of the Madhva tradition. Another of Sri Vadirajateertha's achievements is that he lived a life of 120 years and performed Lord Krishna's Paryaya at Udupi 5 times. He is the first Sanyasi to have entered the Vrindavana (his own tomb) alive after worshiping it for nearly 3 years. The second one who entered his own tomb in a similar way, is Sri Raghavendra Swamy of Mantralaya.

Place to visit: Vadirajateertha Vrindavana, installed in Sodhe temple, near Sirsi, Karnataka. The temple also has a pond Dhavalaganga, which is considered sacred. The temple has a tradition wherein every devotee visiting the temple needs to offer coconuts to Lord Bhutaraja.