Our story
How a blessing, a gift of a disciple and a Chaturmas in Kochi became Shree Kashi Math Samsthan.
Chapter 1 · Kashi
When Lord Vishnu came to King Bali as Vamana and grew to measure the universe in three steps, his toe reached Brahma Loka. Lord Brahma washed it with sacred water, and that water flowed down the sky as the Ganga.
Varanasi, on the bank of that river, became sacred to Vaishnavas and Shaivas alike, and a seat of Sanskrit learning for all of India. It is from this city, Kashi, that Shree Kashi Math Samsthan takes its name.
Chapter 2 · About 1517
Shri Vyasaraja, Rajaguru of the Vijayanagara Empire, was once a guest of an old Brahmana couple who had no children. Pleased with their service, he blessed them: two sons would be born to them, and the elder was to be given to him.
Years later the promise came true. The elder son, Vittalacharya, went with Shri Vyasaraja to Vijayanagara at the age of five. He learnt Tarka, Vyakarana, Mimamsa and Vedanta from the Swamiji himself, and in 1525, at the age of eight, was initiated into Sanyasa as Shri Vishnu Thirtha.
Chapter 3 · 1535
Shrimath Surendra Thirtha of the Kumbakonam Math, Shri Vyasaraja's brother in Purvashrama, was so moved by the young Swami that he asked for him as his own Shishya. Shri Vyasaraja agreed, and the young Swami was renamed Shrimath Vijayendra Thirtha.
Saint Purandaradasa sang of this moment in a kirtana: when Surendra begged for a son, Vyasaraja gave him Vijayendra. In 1535 Shrimath Vijayendra Thirtha went to Kumbakonam to join his new Guru.
Chapter 4 · 1539 to 1540
The Goud Saraswat Brahmins of Kochi invited Shrimath Vijayendra Thirtha to observe the Chaturmas Vrita in their city. During that stay he made a plan: to choose a boy from the community, initiate him into Sanyasa at Kashi, and found a Math with the young Sanyasi at its head.
The community of Kochi agreed. They bought land on the bank of the Ganga at Kashi and built a house for the Math, while the Swamiji took the chosen boy to Kumbakonam to be trained.
Chapter 5 · A legend
An old story tells that a king of Varanasi came to Brahma Ghat to bathe, and the princess lost her bangle in the river. Seeing a Swamiji at his daily rites, she fell at his feet. He prayed to Goddess Ganga, who raised her hand from the water and returned the bangle.
In gratitude, the story goes, the king built a great building on Brahma Ghat and gave it to the Swamiji. The Math still stands at Brahma Ghat today.
Chapter 6 · Kashi
Shrimath Vijayendra Thirtha made the long journey from Kumbakonam to Kashi with the boy and a group of devotees from Kochi. On an auspicious day, on the bank of the Ganga, the boy was initiated into Sanyasa and named Shrimath Yadavendra Thirtha.
When the new Swamiji was brought before Shrimath Surendra Thirtha, he was given two deities, Lord Ramachandra (Raghupati) and Vedavyasa, with a shalagrama for daily worship. Every Swamiji of the Kashi Math has worshipped Vyasa Raghupati and that shalagrama from that day to this.
Chapter 7 · 21 January 1542
A copper plate, written in Kannada in the Devanagari script, gave Shrimath Yadavendra Thirtha the authority to set the rules for religious ceremonies of the Goud Saraswat Brahmins, to perform Mudra Dharana and to give Mantropadesha.
With it came a palanquin, a white umbrella, chamaras, a white conch and a great drum. On the strength of this plate, Shree Kashi Math Samsthan is held to have been founded around AD 1542, and Shrimath Vijayendra Thirtha is honoured as Saraswath Dharma Peetha Sthapanacharya.
॥ श्री व्यास रघुपती नरसिंह प्रसन्न ॥
The Goud Saraswat Brahmins worship all Gods, yet they are Vaishnavas: for them the most precious knowledge is that Lord Vishnu is the Supreme Being.
The Math today
The Mathadhipati offers daily worship to the Charaprathishta deities of the Math, Shri Vyasa Raghupati Narasimha. By tradition the Swamijis worship personally three times a day, morning, noon and night, bathing before each Pooja.
The Swamijis go to the devotees. When the elders of a city send a binnahapatram, an invitation, the Swamiji accepts one and stays there for the Chaturmas Vrita, now two months or four fortnights.
A Swamiji initiates a worthy Vatu into Sanyasa and accepts him as his Patta Shishya. Only when the Guru attains Mukti does the Shishya take charge of the Math.
At the Sanyasa Deeksha, the Guru waves the Aarati to Sri Vyasa Raghupati. As soon as he finishes, the Shishya waves another, to show that the lineage continues.
