Vadirajatirtha

Who is Vadirajatirtha?

Sri Vadirajateertha, 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. He is considered the second highest saint in the Madhva hierarchy, next only to Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, even though his guru was Sri Vyasateertha. He is regarded as an incarnation of Latavya and hence populary known as "BHAVISAMEERA". 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 years and performed Lord Krishna's Paryaya at Udupi 5 times.He is the first Sanyasi who entered the Vrindavana alive after worshipping that for nearly 3 years. The second one who entered the same way is Sri Raghavendra Swamy of Mantralaya.