Sri Krishna Temple, Udupi or Udupi Krishna Mutt

One of the famous temples in Karnataka, the Udupi Krishna temple is located on the Arabian Sea coast. It is a conspicuous center of the Dvaita Vedanta Hindu philosophy that believes Lord Vishnu and the individual souls have independent existential realities. The temple was founded in the 13th century by the Vaishnavite saint ‘Madhvacharya’. According to mythology, when Rukmini asked his husband Lord Krishna to present her an idol of himself in child form. The task was given to Vishwakarma, a famous sculptor of Dwarka. Vishwakarma made a beautiful idol of Balkrishna (child form) and gave it to Rukmini for worship. Dwaraka was completely engulfed by the sea at the end of incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Krishna. That child idol of Lord Krishna also got washed away. Decades passed. Centuries later, a sailor found this idol while fishing here.

Without recognising it, he took that idol to Saint Madhvacharya, who was meditating on the shore. On realizing through his deific vision that it was the same Balkrishna idol that Rukmini worshipped, he was filled with sublime joy. He immediately decided to bring home the idol of his true devotion to his Matha at Udupi, some 4 km from the shore where he was praying. Though architecturally subtle, the temple attracts lakhs of devotees for its spiritual significance. The way of worship here is different from other temples. Devotees can not get the full view of the idol, as they are directed to view him through a silver plated window of 9 holes. The myth is that one has to come over all his / her 9 holes of their body to reach the divinity. Infact, a visit here is considered equivalent to visiting Dwarka of Gujarat.