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UDUPI: Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swamiji of Palimar Mutt will ascend the Paryaya Peetha on January 18 next year for his second term. Before ascending the throne of the Sarvajna Peetha, rituals are initiated a year before by the ascending swamiji. 
 Akki (rice) Muhurtha is the second of four rituals in the run-up to the celebrations. Of these, Bale (Banana) Muhurtha has already been performed by the seer. Next are Kattige (firewood) Muhurta and Batha (paddy) Muhurta. These rituals go back 800 years at the Sri Krishna Mutt established by Sri Madhwacharya, the exponent of the Dwaita philosophy.

 On the occasion, more than 100 Akki Mudis (made of hay) are collected from devotees. One Akki Mudi was kept in the golden chariot as a symbolic gesture and the rest were carried by devotees on their head in a grand procession around the temple. The heads of the Ashta Mutts were offered a ceremonial welcome at the Palimar Math.

 Sri Vidyadeeshateertha Swamiji, seer of Palimar Mutt, said, "There are three important temples of the Vaishnava Bhakti and Udupi Sri Krishna Temple is known as Anna Brahma because of the feeding activity. Lord Venkateshwara Temple at Tirupati is known as Kanchana Brahma and Lord Vittala at Pandharpur, Maharashtra is known as Nada Brahma. For the past 800 year, the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple has been providing food for devotees who visit it. By this, we follow the Adhithi Devo Bhav concept -- we treat visitors on a par with God. With Lord Krishna’s blessings, the number of visitors has been increasing every year. It’s a tradition to gather rice for Annadana during the Paryaya term. Devotees provide rice to the temple which will be collected from various places and stored and during Paryaya, it’s distributed as Prasadam."

 He added, "The Paryaya Pejawar seer is doing a good job. Currently, Laksha Archane is held once a week (on Sundays) and I wish it’s done every day. Let everyone grow a tulsi plant at home and offer it to Lord Krishna."

Vinay Kumar Sorake,, MLA of Kaup constituency, said, "Palimaru seer’s last Paryaya saw the launch of the most successful mid-day meals to Kannada-medium school children. This has increased the number of students attending school and they concentrate better and have been successful in exams. Usually, the ritual is conducted with four Mudi Akki but this time it was 100 Mudis. This shows devotees’ love for him."