Pajaka Kshetra Shri Madhwacharya Temple
Pajaka Kshetra Shri Madhwacharya Temple
Today is Madhwa Navami
Sri Madhwacharya temple is located about seven km from the temple town of Udupi,Pajaka is located south-east of Udupi’s Kunjarugiri which is also known as Durga Betta.The foremost fact of this town is the birthplace of Sri Madhwacharya, the founder of the Dvaita school of philosophy.
Born in 1238 AD Sri Madhwacharya lived for 79 years and left this world on the 9th day of bright fortnight (Navami tithi) in the lunar month Magha Masam that falls two days after the Ratha Sapthami festival.
It is believed that Madhwacharya’s parents prayed for 12 continuous years in the Ananteshwara temple of Udupi to be blessed with a baby boy and in the year 1238 AD the couple were blessed with a baby boy.
Pajaka Kshethra is home to the ancestral house of Sri Madhwacharya who was born as Vasudeva and spent his childhood here. The same has now been converted into a temple complex that houses the Anantha Padmanabha Temple. There are several anecdotes and objects intrinsically associated with the life of Madhwacharya in the temple complex. Close to the shrine is the holy stone where Vasudeva’s
aksharabhyasa (knowledge initiation ceremony) was performed.
There is a banyan tree in the complex that is believed to have been sprouted when Vasudeva stuck a dry stick in the soil while proclaiming that he would establish Vaishnava dharma. There is also a holy pond created by Vasudeva in the complex. Named Vasudeva Teertha, the pond is situated close to a tamarind tree and is steeped in legends.
It is believed that Vasudeva once gave a few tamarind seeds from this tree to a merchant who had lent Vasudeva’s father a cow. It turned out that these seeds were made of gold by which his father’s debt was repayed. Two large stone slabs are also present near the temple’s cow shed that are believed to have been used by Vasudeva to cover pots of milk and curd when his mother instructed him to watch the same.
The complex also has the temple of Madhwacharya which bears the foot prints of Vasudeva in the front.
It is believed that once Vasudeva was playing atop the Durga Betta when his mother called him. Hearing the call, Vasudeva jumped down the hill and landed on the rock in one hop leaving the imprints of his feet. It is at this spot that Sri Vadiraja Teertha of Sode Mutt installed an idol of Sri Madhwacharya.
The temple is highly revered among the Vaishnava community and attracts huge crowds on Vijaya Dashami, the birthday of Madhwacharya. Managed by the Shri Kaniyooru Matha of Udupi, there is also a Madhava Mandira near the temple complex where students study Sanskrit and Vedic texts.
