50th anniversary - golden chariot on the cards: Swamiji donates 50 gold coins
Udupi: This temple town went into a festive mood on Sunday. The Paryaya Swamiji of Puthige mutt Sugunendra Thirtha attained the golden jubilee of his ascension to ‘Sanyasa’ on Sunday and is in the middle of his fourth Paryaya term in service of the Krishna temple as ordained by Madhwa Parampara.
On this day he has taken a vow to present a golden chariot to the Krishna temple.
The chariot will be used in the ‘special alankara’ of the Krishna idol consecrated inside the sanctum santorum of the Krishna temple. The chariot is now under the planning-design stage and will be completed within the next 18 months before the biennial term of Paryaya of Sugunendra Thirtha gets over (January 18 2026). The chariot will be built for Rs. 18 crores. It could be recalled here that the Swamiji built a ‘Navarathna studded’ diamond chariot during his third Paryaya period (2009-2010) On Sunday the Swamiji donated 108 gold coins for the new project. The chariot will be known as the ‘Parthasarathi Chariot’
The fourth paryaya of the Swamiji is known as Vishwa Gita Paryaya where over a crore people around the world will write in their hands the Bhagavadgita.
The Paryaya is a biennial event, signifying a change of hands in the administration of the Krishna temple. The ashta mutts of Udupi namely Pejavara, Krishnapura, Sode, Puthige, Krishnapura, Shiroor, Admaar, and Phalimar mutts, take turns once in two years to administer the Krishna temple alternatively. Each mutt will get a chance in 16 years to be in charge of the Krishna temple. This is perhaps one of the first democratic transfers of power in the world, say the experts, as it was ordained first by the 13th-century Dwaitha (Dualism) philosopher Madhwacharya when the term of Paryaya was just 2 months, later, one of the original disciples of Madhwacharya, Sode Vadiraja Swamiji, enhanced it to 2 years towards the end of the 15th century.
Since then, the ‘Paryaya’ cycle has been unbroken in spirit and continuance.