सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

When Madhvacharya established the worship of Bala Krishna at Udupi in the thirteenth century, he entrusted it to eight of his sannyasi disciples, founding the ashta mathas — Palimaru, Adamaru, Krishnapura, Puttige, Shirur, Sodhe, Kaniyooru and Pejawara. Each matha's pontiff worships Krishna in rotation. Tradition holds that the turns originally changed every two months, and that the saint Vadiraja Tirtha of Sodhe matha, in the sixteenth century, reorganised the cycle into the present two-year tenure so that each matha could prepare worthily for its term — gathering resources, grooming disciples and planning the feeding and festivals that the charge entails. The word paryaya simply means 'turn' or 'rotation'. Since each tenure lasts two years, a matha's turn comes once in sixteen years, making a swamiji's Paryaya the defining event of his pontificate — many undertake years of pilgrimage, japa and fundraising in preparation, entering Udupi only on the appointed day to assume the seat.

Paryaya falls on 18 January of every even-numbered year, a fixed date in the solar month of Makara. The incoming swamiji, who by custom has camped outside the town, begins before dawn with a ritual bath at Danda Tirtha near Kapu, then enters Udupi in the darkness in a magnificent procession along Car Street — accompanied by decorated tableaux, drummers, folk dancers, huli vesha troupes and thousands of devotees. He takes darshana of Krishna first through the Kanakana Kindi, the window of Kanakadasa, then enters the matha, where the outgoing swamiji formally hands over the akshaya patra (the vessel associated with the matha's unfailing kitchen) and the keys of the shrine. The new Paryaya swamiji ascends the Sarvajna Peetha, the seat of Madhvacharya, and assumes charge of Krishna's pooja and the matha's vast dasoha of daily feeding. Felicitations, cultural programmes and a public durbar follow, with the whole town decorated and lakhs attending. The outgoing pontiff returns to his own matha, his turn complete for sixteen years.

Paryaya happens only at Udupi, but its fixed rhythm makes it easy for the diaspora to follow: every even-numbered year, 18 January. Families of the Madhva and coastal Karnataka traditions in Canada often have a personal stake — many households maintain hereditary ties to one of the eight mathas — and mark the day by watching the procession and handover live; the event is extensively streamed and covered by Kannada media, and with India ten and a half hours ahead of Ottawa in January, the pre-dawn procession streams here in the mid-afternoon of 17 January. At home the day can be kept with pooja to Krishna, Haridasa bhajanas and a reading about Madhvacharya for children. Some families plan India trips around a Paryaya, especially when their own matha's turn arrives — a once-in-sixteen-years occasion that older relatives will insist is worth the journey.