Udupi Sri Krishna Matha

The Krishna Matha at Udupi, on the Karnataka coast, was established in 1285 by Madhvacharya, founder of the Dvaita, or dualist, school of Vedanta. Tradition holds that he brought the image of Krishna from Dwarka hidden inside a block of gopichandana clay and installed it here.

The deity faces west and is viewed through the nine-holed silver window called the Navagraha Kindi. An outer window, the Kanakana Kindi, commemorates the 16th-century devotee-poet Kanakadasa.

Madhvacharya also founded eight surrounding monasteries, the Ashta Mathas, whose swamis take turns to run the shrine: under the paryaya system, worship and administration pass from one matha to the next every two years, making Udupi the enduring centre of the Madhva Vaishnavite tradition and one of South India's busiest pilgrimage kitchens.