Pajaka is a village in Udupi Taluk and district of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Pajaka is the place where

Dvaita Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST: ''Tattvavāda''), is a sub-school in the Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') trad ...

philosopher Sri

Madhvacharya Madhvacharya (; ; 1199–1278 CE or 1238–1317 CE), also known as Purna Prajna () and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the ''Dvaita'' (dualism) school of Vedanta. Madhva called his philosophy ...

was born. The place is near Kunjarugiri

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

temple. The importance of Pajaka kshetra is also narrated in a small biographical poem called "Sampradaya Paddhati", whose author is Sri Madhvacharya's direct disciple Sri Hrushikesha, the mula yati of Sri Palimaru Mata. Sri Vadiraja swamy of the Sode Mata in his " Tirtha prabandha" explains Pajaka Kshetra as a very holy place, because it was here Sri

Mukyaprana Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

was born as Sri Madhvacharya and hence it has to be visited all wise men. There is an impression of Sri Madhvacharya's feet near his house. Sri Vadiraja swamy later installed an idol of Sri Madhvacharya there, which is now a temple and where he is worshipped by devotees till date. PajakaVillage

Places to see

There are many interesting places to see at Pajaka. Perhaps the most important of all is the ancestral home and birthplace of Sri Madhva. There are many archaeological evidences of the life and times of Sri Madhva at this place. This includes the spot where his Aksharabhyasa (Initiation Ceremony) was performed, a banyan tree supposed to have been planted by him, the place where Sri Madhva (by virtue of being an avatar of

Vayu Vayu (; ), also known as Vata () and Pavana (), is the Hindu deities, Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine messenger of the gods. In the ''Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king o ...

) lifted two huge stones and placed them on pots, and a pond where Sri Madhva is supposed to have brought the water from 4 nearby ponds (Dhanus Theertha, Gada Theertha, Bana Theertha and Parashu Theertha). There is also a Madhva Mandira very close to the house. Lot of religious activities happen here and it is also a Vidyapeeta where students learn Vedas and Sanskrit. The entire complex is managed by Sri Kaniyooru Matha, one of the eight mathas Sri Madhva established. The Kunjaragiri Durga temple is also a fascinating place to visit. The temple is located on top of a hill and the hill offers some breathtaking sceneries of Udupi. There is also a

Parashurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. Hindu tradition holds him to be the destroyer of the evil on Earth. According t ...

temple nearby.

External links

Photos of Pajaka and brief description

Photos of Pajaka
* Villages in Udupi district {{Udupi-geo-stub