Vadiraja Tirtha
Sri Vadirajatirtha (Tulu: ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜ ತೀರ್ಥರು), traditionally 1480 - 1600, a Haridasa, is said to have been a Shivalli Tulu Brahmin and native of the village ofHoovinakere, 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 Vyasatirtha. He is regarded as an incarnation of Latavya. 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 Mathawhich 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 Vadirajatirtha 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 Vadirajatirtha's achievements is that he lived a life of 120 years and performed Lord Krishna's Paryaya at Udupi 5 times.
In an age that knew great Sanskrit scholars and intellects, Sri Vadirajatirtha who himself was a great scholar, was able to accommodate the needs of the less scholarly, taking the haridasa tradition to the masses by translating many important works into the Kannada language. He was able to explain sophisticated concepts in the form of simple stotras. About the saint, Dr. B.N.K. Sharma writes "In this respect, his work marks a new and necessary phase in the history of Dvaita literature and breathes the spirit of a new age which produced other popular exponents of Madhva-Siddhânta, both in Sanskrit and in Kannada".
Vadirajatirtharu used to offer daily prasadam to Lord Hayagriva by holding the prasadam on his head. Lord Hayagriva is said to appear in the form of a horse and eat the prasadam by kneeling on Vadirajatirtha's shoulders.
Vadirajatirtharu brindavana is installed in Sodhe temple near Sirsi in Karnataka. The temple also has a pond Dhavalaganga which is very sacred and pilgrims take bath in this pond. The pond has four corners and is available for pilgrims only at 2 corners. One corner of the pond is prohibited since it is believed that Lord Bhutaraja uses that corner of the pond even now. The temple has a tradition wherein every devotee visiting the temple needs to offer coconuts to Lord Bhutaraja.
