Vadiraja Tirtha

Sri Vadiraja Tirtha (Tulu: ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜ ತೀರ್ಥರು), traditionally 1480–1600, a Haridasa, was a Shivalli Tulu Brahmin and native of the village of Hoovinakere, near Kumbhashi in Kundapura taluk, Udupi District in Karnataka state. His parents were Ramacharya and Gauri.[1] He is considered amongst the highest saints in the Madhva hierarchy, next only to Srimad Ananda Tîrtha and Sri Jayateertha. He also studied under Vyasarayaru. He is regarded as an incarnation of Latavya and hence popularly known as "BHAVISAMEERA" which means he will come to Vayu Devara Padavi or title in future. He was not only a great poet but also very effective in the administration of the Udupi Matha system. He brought about many changes to the operational system of the Matha which by itself showed his high placing in the Madhva hierarchy.

He became a Sanyasi at the young age of 8. The pre-sanyasa name given to Sri Vadiraja was Bhuvaraha. He worshipped Lord Vishnu in the form of Hayagriva.

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 Madhva tradition. Another of Sri Vadirajateertha's achievements is that he lived a life of 120 year and performed Lord Krishna's Paryaya at Udupi 5 times. He is the first Sanyasi who entered the Vrindavana (his own TOMB) alive after worshipping that for nearly 3 years. The only other saint to have followed similar way of leaving this materialistic world is Sri Raghavendra Swamy of Mantralaya.

In an age that knew great Sanskrit scholars and intellects, Sri Vadirajateertha who himself was a great scholar, was able to accommodate the needs of the less scholarly, taking 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. About the saint, Dr. B.N.K. Sharma writes "In this respect, his work marks a new and necessary phase in the history of Dvaita literature and breathes the spirit of a new age which produced other popular exponents of Madhva-Siddhânta, both in Sanskrit and in Kannada".

Vadirajateertharu used to offer daily prasadam to Lord Hayagriva by holding the prasadam on his head. Lord Hayagriva is said to appear in the form of a horse and eat the prasadam by kneeling on Vadirajateertha's shoulders.

Vadirajateertharu brindavana is installed in Sodhe temple near Sirsi in Karnataka. The temple also has a pond Dhavalaganga which is very sacred and pilgrims take bath in this pond. The pond has four corners and is available for pilgrims only at 2 corners. One corner of the pond is prohibited since it is believed that Lord Bhutaraja uses that corner of the pond even now. The temple has a tradition wherein every devotee visiting the temple needs to offer coconuts to Lord Bhutaraja (bhavi Rudhra).

Famous extant works

Stotras

His other works are

... to name only a few.

He has written sub-commentaries (Tippanis) on Sri Jayateertha's Nyayasudha and Tattvaprakasika called "Gurvarthadipika". He has also written Tippani on Isavasya Upanishad Tika.

Sri Vadirajateertha's brindavana is in Sodhe, Karnataka.

Notes

  1. ↑ Sharma (1961), p414

References

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