Udupi: As you enter Udupi in December cold weather in the morning you are confronted with decorative welcome arches and colored paper lines on the streets getting ready for a new Paryaya festival in a month hence. The broad roads of Udipi, recently widened are inviting you to walk on them to the temple of Sri Krishna. Hundreds of buses and tempo traveler Vans bring in tourists from all over south India to this holy temple town and stay outside until the pilgrims had gone round the temple area to see lord Krishna Madhva tank, Chandra Mouleshwara temple, car street and the nearest market were local goods and Pooja materials are on sale. There is an elephant of about 8 ft tall which the pilgrims do not miss to see and feed. Some kms away lives Manipal a modern township now included in Udupi Panchayat. Here on way to lands and hundreds of tall buildings containing GOVT offices, staff quarters medical and engineering employee’s residences and citizens colonies abound in rose along clean streets and a main road going towards rural areas.

Manipal has changed beyond recognition with frightening construction of KMC blocks shopping markets and hotels. There is a medical college and an institute of technology with an international student population from Asia and Middle East countries.

The Udupi paryaya is a greate event of change of gourd in religious worship of the Kadegolu Krishna. The stone image in black going back to 9 centuries, is now worshiped by the Sode Mutt Swamiji who is a young man of 22 years and not experienced in worldly affairs but dose the Pooja work ably his successor to the Sarwajna Peetha is another young man of 30, from Kaniyoor Matt, who is now on a travel all over India to collect funds for the big day on Jan.18, 2014, and will return to Udupi in an entry ceramoney in the first week of new year 2014.

The Sode Matt is fairly rich with wealth and properties, but Kaniyoor Matt is not. Nevertheless the 8 Matts have a system of rotation every 2 years for 16 years before the new round begins. Both the Sode and Kaniyoor Matt youthful Swamijis are expected to mature by the time their next round of Paryaya in 16 years comes round. The Chandra Mouleshwara historic temple in black stone without electric lights and only with oil lamps is the property of Puttige Matt Swamiji Sugunendra who wears a look of a GSB guru rather than being a Tulu Brahmin, and his kept outside the rituals of Sri Krishna temple by the true Youthful Swami’s of Sode and Kaniyoor of the present and the succeeding one Swamy which ascends the Paryaya peetha of Ashta Matt at Udupi in early 2014.