The 33rd senior pontiff of Puthige Mutt Sugundendra Tirtha with his junior Sushreendra Tirtha praying at Puthige Mutt in Udupi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The temple city Udupi is all decked up to witness 252nd Paryaya Mahotsava of Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple on Thursday.
The Car Street, main streets and roads leading to the mutt, the buildings have been illuminated and decorated to celebrate the mahotsava.
The 33rd pontiff of Puthige Mutt, Sugundendra Tirtha, will ascend the Paryaya Peetha or Sarvajna Peetha on Thursday to take over the responsibility of managing the Sri Krishna Mutt for the next two years till January 18, 2026. It will be his fourth Paryaya.
The Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple will be the cynosure of all eyes during the Paryaya. It was at this temple that Madhwacharya installed the idol of Lord Krishna more than 800 years ago.
The five major projects to be launched during the Paryaya period of Sugundendra Tirtha as announced by him included Koti Gita Lekhana Yajna, dawn to dusk Akhanda Gita Parayana, dedicating Suvarana Partha Sarathi chariot to Lord Sri Krishna, constructing Ashtottara Bhavana and constructing ‘Swagatham Krishna’ arch with the idol of Madhwacharya carrying Sri Krishna at Kalsanka near the mutt.
Earlier this month, the High Court of Karnataka dismissed a Public Interest Litigation petition, which had sought a direction to restrain Sugunendra Tirtha from taking over the Paryaya the Sri Krishna Mutt. The petitioner had contended that Sugunendra Tirtha is “disqualified’ from worshipping the Krishna idol as he had crossed seas and travelled abroad in breach of the customs of the ashta mutts.
The petitioner Gururaj Jeeven Rao contended that “a peethadhipati of ashta mutts shall be forbidden from travelling across the sea. If any peethadhipati crosses the sea, he is restrained from touching the Krishna idol which is a disqualification to worship the idol.”
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Krishna S. Dixit, dismissed the petition by observing that the courts cannot interfere in such religious matters.
