Madhvacharya was born of Tulu speaking parents at Udupi, Karnataka. The young Vasudeva, (Madhva’s boyhood name) expressed a desire to become an ascetic as early as age 8.
Madhva’s parents naturally objected and so it was not until he was about 16 years of age that he was able to leave home and become a sannyasi. From then on the young Vasudeva became known as Ananda Tirtha, the name given to him by his sannyasa guru. Ananda Tirtha later assumed the name Madhva by which he is most commonly known today.
Shankaracharya’s advaita-vedanta produced a profound dissatisfaction in the mind of the young Madhva, which often brought him into conflict with his teachers. In fact Madhva’s objection to advaita-vedanta became the most compelling force in this life and he spent much of his adult life arguing against this view of the world.
After studying in Udupi, Madhva traveled to Tamil Nadu where he continued to meet and debate with advaita scholars. Madhva soon returned to Udupi, but after a short time he left to visit Veda Vyasa at Badari in the northern Himalayas. Many months passed and Madhva’s followers thought that he had perished in the desolate mountains. When he finally appeared he was resplendent and joyful. He had received the blessings of Vyasa. Upon his return to Udupi, he immediately began to write his famous Brahma-sutra commentary.
Soon Madhva started his own temple in Udupi by installing a beautiful Deity of Bala Krishna. He obtained this Deity by rescuing a ship in distress near the coast of Udupi. Madhvacharya signaled the ship to shore by waving lamps and flags. Convinced that it was through the grace of Madhva that the ship was saved, the ship’s captain offered him a gift. Madhva chose the clay (gopi-chandana) that was used for the ship’s ballast. Upon washing the clay, Madhvacharya discovered a beautiful Deity of Sri Krishna, which He personally carried to Udupi and began to worship. This Deity of Krishna is still worshipped today in the central temple of Udupi. Madhva’s Udupi temple is one of the most important Krishna temples in India. The lamp beside this Deity of Krishna was lit by Madhvacharya himself and has never been extinguished.
During his lifetime, Madhvacharya wrote many important commentaries on the Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita, Brahma-sutra, Mahabharata and the Bhagavata-purana. The final years of Madhva were spent in teaching and worship. In the end he instructed his followers not to sit still, but to go forth and preach.
His biographers tell how Madhvacharya disappeared one evening while reciting his favorite text, the Aitareya Upanishad.
Pajakakshetra
A visit to Pajakakshetra acquaints one with the early life of Madhvacharya, the propounder of dvaita philosophy.
An aura of spirituality envelops and soothes one’s body and spirit as one enters this sacred land of Pajakakshetra, a small village 16 km from Udupi. It is the birthplace of Sri Madhvacharya. Pajakakshetra is the abode of Parashurama, the destroyer of evil, Durga the remover of ignorance and Madhvacharya, the giver of supreme knowledge. The confluence of these three forces makes Pajaka a unique place of pilgrimage.
The spiritual ambience of the well-preserved original home of Madhva, where he lived with his parents, captures one’s imagination. His father Madhyageha was a devout Brahmin. Inside the house is the small temple housing the Deity of Ananthapadmanabha, which he worshiped every day. In the backyard is the small sacred tank of 'Vasudevathirtha', created by Madhva as a child, and contains the essence of the four sacred tanks in the vicinity, the waters of which were used by his father for his daily worship at the nearby Durga temple.
A few feet away to the north is the huge tamarind tree, believed to be an offshoot of the original tamarind tree under which Madhva played as a child. Now a stone platform surrounds its trunk. Popular belief goes that Madhyageha was unable to return the loan he had taken from a moneylender and was being harassed by him. Madhva, who was then playing under the tamarind tree, brought a handful of tamarind seeds and gave them to the moneylender and asked him to leave. To the astonishment of the moneylender, the seeds had turned into gold coins by the time he could reach home.
A temple housing the Deity of Madhvacharya stands on the spot where the imprints of Madhva's feet are found. According to popular belief, it is precisely the spot where Madhva, as a child, landed after jumping from the nearby Durga hill after killing the vicious serpent Manimanta.
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