ART-0528 Udupi: The Town of the Beautiful Deity of Baby Krishna

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This town is central to the followers of Madhva (see Teachers’ Book, pages 137-138, 134).

The main temple in Udupi is called the “Shri Krishna Matha”, where Lord Krishna in his baby form (Bala Krishna) is worshipped. This deity was made from a shalagram-shila (a deity self-manifested from stone) by Lord Krishna himself and was worshipped by Rukmini, his foremost queen in Dwarka. This deity was later worshipped by Arjuna, who after some time, hid the deity. Eventually Srila Madhvacharya (AD 1238-1317) recovered this beautiful deity of Krishna and started worship, which has been carried on since that time (the Twelfth Century) by his disciples. There is a lamp beside the deity that was lit by Srila Madhvacharya and has never been extinguished since.

Srila Madhvacharya was born into a pious Brahmana family. He was a Vaishnava and he taught that individual souls are superior to matter and are distinct from God, remaining his eternal servants. He possessed an unusually strong body and extraordinary intellectual power. He went to almost every sacred place of pilgrimage, where he defeated scholars of opposing faiths and won many over to his particular doctrine.

In order to display different pastimes for his devotees, the deity of Bala Krishna, has over fifty different dresses such as those of the cowherd boy and Mohini Murti (The Lord incarnated as an extraordinarily beautiful woman). He is offered a diamond crown and is sometimes dressed with diamonds.

At the Udupi temple there are also deities of Sita Rama. These particular deities of Rama and Sita have been worshipped from the time of King Ikshvaku. They were worshipped by the royal princes before the appearance of Lord Rama. Later during Lord Rama’s presence, the deities were worshipped by Lakshman. It is said that just three months before his disappearance, Madhvacharya received these deities and installed them here. Since then the deities have been worshipped by the Madhvacharya sampradaya (disciplic succession).

Udupi is located 238 miles from Bangalore.