Sode Matha - Sri Bhuvaraha

The 6th maTha among the Udupi aShTa maThas is the Sode maTha. Two great yatis of all times have adorned the peeTha of this maTha. They are Sri Vishnu teertha and Sri Vadiraja teertha.

Sri Vishnu teertha was the first peeThAdhipati of Sode maTha. He was the younger brother of Sri Madhwacharya in poorvAshrama. He is still said to be alive and performing tapasya at the Kumaradri hills near Kukke Subrahmanya. In distant future he is supposed to revive the Tatvavaada philosophy once again, which by then would have become extinct. For this same purpose Sri Madhwacharya is believed to have preserved his sarvamoola granthas on copper plates, and buried them in a place called Kadtila or Setutila. Incidentally, Sri Vishnu teertha is also the founder of Kukke Subrahmanya maTha.

Sri Sode maTha is unique amongst the Udupi aShTa maThas in the sense that its headquarter is situated at a place called Sode in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, whereas all the remaining 7 maThas have their headquarters in Udupi district itself. Interestingly, this maTha was originally known by the name KumbhAshi maTha, with main branch at KumbhAshi near Udupi. (Sri Vadiraja teertha’s birth place Huvinakere is very near to KumbhAshi.) But during the time of Sri Vadiraja, the main branch of this maTha got shifted to Sode, and then onwards it came to be known as Sode maTha.

Sode maTha - Sri Hayagreeva

The main deity of Sode maTha is Sri BhUvarAha, presented to Sri Vishnu teertha by Sri Madhwacharya himself. This idol is known for its beautiful iconography with one thigh of VarAha supporting BhUdEvi, and another leg on the hood of a serpent. Along with this idol, the idol of Lord Hayagreeva is also worshiped in this maTha, which was presented by a local goldsmith to Sri Vadiraja.

Yati parampara:

1. Sri Vishnu Tirtha
2. Sri Vedavyasa Tirtha
3. Sri Vedavedya Tirtha
4. Sri Vedagarbha Tirtha
5. Sri Vareesha Tirtha
6. Sri Vamana Tirtha
7. Sri Vasudeva Tirtha
8. Sri Vedavyasa Tirtha
9. Sri Varaha Tirtha
10. Sri Vedatma Tirtha
11. Sri Vishvavandya Tirtha
12. Sri Ratnagarbha Tirtha
13. Sri Vedanga Tirtha
14. Sri Vidyapati Tirtha
15. Sri Vishvavandya Tirtha
16. Sri Vishva Tirtha
17. Sri Vithala Tirtha
18. Sri Varadaraja Tirtha
19. Sri Vagisha Tirtha
20. Sri Vadiraja Tirtha
21. Sri Vedavedya Tirtha
22. Sri Vidyanidhi Tirtha
23. Sri Vedanidhi Tirtha
24. Sri Varadaraja Tirtha
25. Sri Vishvadhirajendra Tirtha
26. Sri Vadivandya Tirtha
27. Sri Vishvavandya Tirtha
28. Sri Vibudhaavarya Tirtha
29. Sri Vishvanidhi Tirtha
30. Sri Vishvadhisha Tirtha
31. Sri Vishvesha Tirtha
32. Sri Vishvapriya Tirtha
33. Sri Vishvadhisha Tirtha
34. Sri Vishvendra Tirtha
35. Sri Vishvottama Tirtha
36. Sri Vishvavallabha Tirtha (present)

The 35th pontiff in the lineage was Sri Vishvottama teertha swamiji. He was born in 1934, and took sanyasa ashrama in 1943 at the age of 9 years. He conducted four paryayas during the years 1948-49, 1964-65, 1980-81 and 1996-97. He initiated Sri Vishwavallabha teertha as his junior swamiji in the year 2006, and passed away on 18 August 2007 when he was 73 years of age.