Udupi
Udupi is in Daksina Kannada (South Karnataka) in a stretch of land which is known as Parasurama-ksetra.

Udupi gets its name from the moon-god because at this place, the moon god performed penances to attain the mercy of Lord Siva. To commemorate this, there are two important temples to Siva here – the temple of Candramoulesvara and the temple of Anantesvara.

Udupi is famous however as the main center of the Madhva sampradaya. Sripada Madhvacarya established his Dvaita Vedanta philosophy and propagated it from this place. He also installed the Deity of Krsna that had previously been worshiped by Rukmini-devi in Dvaraka. He obtained this Deity when he saved a ship from sinking off the coast of Udupi and was presented a large piece of gopi-candana. When he washed this candana away in the Madhva-sarovara (the pond adjacent to the temple), a beautiful Deity of Bala-Krsna was discovered.

Madhva initiated eight of his chief disciple into the sannyasa order and they established eight mathas around the Sri Krsna Temple.

In the 16th Century the great reformer Vadiraja Tirtha re-systemized the tenure of parayaya (when one of the eight sannyasis form the eight mathas takes responsibility for the worship of Sri Krsna) and changed it from two months to two years.

The parayaya mahotsava is the biggest festival held in Udupi and occurs every two years in January.

For an in depth series of articles on Madhva and Gaudiya siddhanta please visit here: Tattvavada.