A Short Illustration Of The
1980 Paryaya Festival
These photos are of the
1980 Paryaya of HH Vishvottama Tiirtha Swamiji of Sode Matha.
The photos were taken by Sri M.K. Upadhya.
His eMail address is mvsu@mnsinc.com
Sode Math decorated with coloured lights for the paryaya festival. Car Street comes alive during the nights of the festival and the Paryaya Math is a sight to behold.
On the night before Makara-samkranti, the three Raths were taken out in procession. This was a grand sight and the assembled devotees of Lord Krishna took extreme delight in pulling these raths with long ropes. Half way around the Car Street the procession came to a halt and the Swamijis gave a short discourse and then Lord Krishna was entertained by the setting off of fireworks. The highlight was when a cloth dipped in oil was set alight to illuminate the Lord seated on his chariot. Two very bright flares were also lit as we can see in this photo.
On the morning of the
Makara-samkranti day, the processional vigraha of Lord Krishna
was taken out on procession in the Brahma Rath. Once He was
installed, various offerings, including fruit, flowers and money,
were made. The paryaya Swamiji then came to the doorway of the
Rath and threw each offering to the crowd of attending devotees.
In this photo we see the Swamiji distributing some of these
offering to the crowd.
The excitement level rises each time the Swamiji comes to the
doorway and there is always a mad scramble to try and obtain some
of the offerings. The children become very animated and excited
when the offerings of money are thrown out, and they push
excitedly though the legs of the adult devotees in a mad scramble
to pick up the coins from the ground. It is also a time for the
devotees to be completely watchful, especially when whole
coconuts are thrown out or when a huge bunch of bananas sails
through the air.
This photo shows the huge crowd of devotees pulling the rath while the temple elephant leads the procession. To the left of the Brahma Rath is Chandramaulishvara Temple and the Sode Math can be seen in the distance on the right.
At the conclusion of the procession, Lord Krishna came down from the rath and was taken to the Madhva-sarovara where He took bath along with the assembled devotees. This is a truly wonderful pastime of the Lord and is especially appreciated by those devotees able to take bath along with him. In this photo it is possible to see the devotees madly swiming towards Lord Krishna as He took bath.
In the very early hours of the morning of the Paryaya festival itself, a great celebration and procession took place as the incoming Paryaya Swamiji of Sode Math made his way towards Krishna Math. There were many floats representing the activities of the Supreme Lord. In this photo we see a representation of Lord Varaha with Lakshmi Devi, followed by Hanuman, and then Madhvacharya. Bhuuvaraaha is the vigraha worshipped in Sode Math.
The vigraha of Bhuuvaraaha, which was originally worshipped by Sri Vishnu Tiirtha, was presented to the Swamiji by Sri Madhva himself. The icon was placed in the golden palanquin and carried in the paryay procession on the shoulders of the Sode Math devotees.
The incoming paryaya Swamiji, HH Vishvottama Tiirtha Swamiji, is carried in the procession in a gaily decorated palanquin.
The only time the devotee will see the Swamiji dressed in other than the traditional sannyasa robes is during the paryaya procession which takes place once in sixteen years for each of the ashhTa-maTha-s.
In the evening, before going on
procession in the Brahma-ratha, the processional vigraha of Lord
Krishna was taken to the Madhva-saravora where it was placed onto
a ''rath'' which consists of two traditional boats lashed
together with a platform and richly decorated. Sri Krishna and
the Paryaya Swamiji were then paddled three times around the
sravora, much to the delight of the assembled devotees.
For many devotees this is the highlight of the evening as they
take great delight of having darshana of Lord Krishna in the
intimate confines of the saravora.
The handing over ceremony.
The outgoing paryaya Swamiji, H.H. Sri Lakshmivara Tirtha Swamiji of Shirur Math, who was 17 years of age during his paryaya, and HH Sri Vidya Varinidhi Tiirtha Swamiji of Kaniyur Math, who oversaw his paryaya, hand over all the pooja and administrative rights to the incoming paryaya Swamiji, HH Vishvottama Tiirtha Swamiji of Sode Math.
During the paryaya festival, hundreds of thousands of devotees were catered for. In this photo we see one of the piles of cooked rice in the foreground while in the background we see the cooks preparing the different vegetable preparations in huge couldrons.
This section is by Ramadas. The photos were taken by Sri M.K. Upadhya.