Udupi, the Jewel of Coastal Karnataka

‘Footlooseinme’ takes you to one of Karnataka’s most picturesque coastal tours. Yes, you guessed it right, I will take you to Udupi. Udupi is famous for its cuisine, but do you know that Udupi has a lot more to offer than its delectable food items? Udupi is the centre of pilgrimage, a beautiful and peaceful city with an enchanting coastal neighbourhood. So let’s travel into the heart of Udipi and explore it all.

It was our long drive from Pune to Karnataka. We always enjoy driving through the roads of Karnataka but this time it was bothersome. Road construction work was in progress, creating a lot of hassle and taking us much longer than usual. Road conditions for travelling from Pune to Karnataka will remain the same for a couple of years or till the new road is complete. Till then we have to bear this pain. Once we crossed Belgaum then the drive was smooth.

The clean and stylish city of Udupi welcomed us with a large gateway. The broad roads and the impressive Bungalows on either side speak of the style statement that the city follows. The buildings – houses, Temples and Churches here are built tastefully giving character to the city. (Read my previous post on Churches of Udupi.) Even though the city is known as a pilgrimage, it is so unique that it is distinctly different and clean from any other pilgrimage in India.

Udupi became a popular pilgrimage during the 13th century when the Vaishnavite saint Madhavacharya founded the Sri Krishna Mutt with the deity secured from Dwarka. Since the temple’s construction, the city saw a large migration of Brahmins into the city. The city had a predominant population of the Bunt people (Tulu) who were traditionally the warrior community. The city was a part of the region called Tulunadu.

There is an interesting story associated with Sri Krishan Mutt of Udupi. The temple has a peephole and it is said that the devotees should take the first darshan of the deity from this peephole before entering the temple. This peephole or window is known as Kanakana Kindi. As per the legend, Kanakadasa was a pious devotee of Lord Krishna. On his pilgrimage to Udupi, he was not allowed to enter the temple as he belonged to the lower class. The pontiff of the temple, Sri Vadiraja Tirtha arranged his accommodation in a hut in front of the temple.

As a punishment for entering the temple secretly, he was chained to the front of the back wall of the temple and whipped. He sang to the lord in despair to save him from this pain. There was a sudden earthquake in which a crack formed in the wall on which he was chained and his shackles broke off. The idol of lord Krishna that traditionally faced the East miraculously turned west towards Kanakadasa. Thus, Kanakadasa was freed and had the darshan of the lord that he was craving for. Since then, the temple’s main deity and other deities of the temple face towards the West.

After this incident, everyone irrespective of their caste is allowed to enter the temple. Sri Vadiraja Tirtha after knowing about this miraculous episode, enlarged the crack on the wall and converted it into a window. In memory of Kanakadasa, this window came to be known as Kanakana Kindi (Kanaka’s window.) Since then the tradition goes that only after looking at the idol from this window do the priests, devotees and visitors enter the temple.

The temple area is again an interesting spot where you find many other temples adjoining the Sri Krishna Mutt, Shri Anantheswara Temple and Shri Chandramouleeshwara Temple are all within the temple area. Here you find elegant and intriguing buildings around the temple complex all built in ancient Dravidian architectural style. We could not manage to have the ‘Anna Brahma’ (or the ‘Prasada’) offered to the devotees daily. 

The Sri Krishna Mutt is the birthplace of the famous Udupi cuisine. This cuisine was developed by a particular sect of Brahmins who were the priests of the temple – the Madhava Brahmins. Madhava Brahmins were the community who followed the Dvaita philosophy of Madhavacharya and thus the Sadh Vaishnavism. The cuisine originated as pure vegetarian food made from local produce and prepared similarly to the Tuluva cuisine.

The World famous Dosa (the most popular South Indian food among others) also originated from Udupi cuisine. Probably the cuisine evolved during the ‘Chaaturmasa Vrata’ which is a tradition when certain food items are forbidden during certain four months of the year. To offer different food to lord Krishna during this period, this cuisine developed. We queued in front of the famous Woodlands restaurant near the temple area to taste the authentic Udipi cuisine.

We were out of luck as it was a weekend and the waiting time was long. On the other hand, we were hungry like a wolf and had no patience to wait. So we decided to find another place and we found the MTR. Yes, this is the same MTR food enterprise that you know but this is a restaurant that has many branches in Bangaluru and a few in the other southern parts of India and abroad. We filled our tummy and our soul with as many items as we could have before going to bed peacefully.

Now, enough of religion and food let’s explore the most interesting part of the city, the coastal Udupi. We started from the Kemannu Hanging Bridge. This small hanging bridge connects two banks of the Swarna River. The place is known for river rafting at reasonable rates. But we were here to experience the natural beauty, as the road that brought us to this quaint location was through the peaceful small town and pretty coconut grooves and creeks.

Such charming locations always entice me and I dream of spending quiet and idle time sitting and watching the scenes in awe. We hired a bike from a bike rental at the junction of Udupi and Manipal. We realised that it was an excellent decision as riding through these coastal roads was more enjoyable than driving through them. You could have a 180° view from your bike and when the road takes you through the narrow patch of land between the Arabian Sea and the Suvarna River on either side.

Delta Beach is located in the estuary region where the river drains into the sea. Here you find a small port and other industries related to fisheries. The best part of this journey was the long road through two water bodies on either side. Small local temples frequented the road. The temples looked new but were built following the typical architectural style prevalent here. We entered one such temple and were surprised to see the spectacular woodwork around and even on the ceiling.

Leaving behind the less travelled zone we entered the popular destinations of Udupi. We were in Malpe Beach, and then to the jetty waiting in the queue to purchase ferry tickets to and from St Mary’s Island. I will cover St Mary’s Island in my next post and focus on the mainland here. Malpe Beach and the Malpe Walk have been the most touristy places for us till now. We then spent the sunset time at the Kaup Lighthouse. Entering the approach of the Kaup beach and lighthouse was no different than entering an Indian fairground. 

Lots and lots of stalls lined up the approach road to the Kaup beach and there were waves of tourists all walking towards the beach or the lighthouse. The most noticeable thing within this mess was the cleanliness of the area. There were proper garbage bins at regular intervals and even within the beach. People also behaved well not littering around here and there. Within this crowd, we managed to push ourselves through the entrance of the lighthouse and also climb the circular stairs to reach the top of it.

I remember similar conditions in the Dolphin’s Nose Lighthouse in Vizag where there was a huge crowd wanting to climb the lighthouse. Due to the regular lighthouse timing there, it was only open from 4-5 PM which gave a very short window for such a huge crowd. (Read my post on Vizag or Vishakhapatnam.) The Kaup lighthouse timings were from 4-6 PM and probably it was a relaxed timing that allowed more people to climb up to the top of it and witness the panoramic view of the coastal town. Fighting my claustrophobia and enochlophobia we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.

And all my phobias vanished in the blink of an eye. The view was spectacular and beyond, although the moody clouds did not allow us to see the sunset. We could not spend much time there as the space there was limited and to let others experience the views we started our descent immediately after taking a panoramic view of the scene from above. 

After spending some time in the darkness at Padukere Beach, we went straight to the Woodlands restaurant. This time we made it a point to reach there early so that we get the opportunity to have a table for us without waiting in a queue. We had a sumptuous, authentic and delicious Udupi meal that comprised various specialities of the place. 

We made sure to have the items that we had planned for and after having those we would see if our stomachs could accommodate any more or not. We indulged ourselves in the pure magic of the original Udupi vegetarian cuisine. We had enough for that day and returned to our stay. We did explore the other things in the Woodlands restaurant menu the other day. We were immensely satisfied from our mind, body and soul (oops and stomach too 😛).

The other day we explored the serenity of the Pithrody Udyavar Beach. We rode through the farms of Mattu Gulla. The harvesting was probably done or it may not be the fruiting season so we could not see plants laden with fruits. Oh! Did I explain what Mattu Gulla is? Udupi Mattu Gulla is a variety of green Brinjal that received a Geographical Identification tag in the year 2011. These brinjals are green in colour and spherical in shape. They are grown only in this region and are special for their distinct taste and colour.

There is an interesting legend that goes along with the Mattu Gulla. Again going back to the time of Sri Vadiraja Tirtha of Sri Krishna Mutt. Vadiraja used to offer prasad to a White Horse who was worshipped as Lord Hayagreeva. The horse used to eat half of it and keep the remaining for Vadiraja. Other devotees were jealous of this and mixed poison with the prasad. That day Hayagreeva ate the whole prasad and turned blue so did the Krishna idol of the mutt. 

Vadiraja was in immense pain after this event. That night Hayagreeva appeared in his dream, narrated the incident and gave him a few seeds of Brinjal as a cure for the poison. He asked them to be distributed to the Brahmins of the Mattu region and said that the plant would grow in 48 days. These brinjals were offered to Hayagreeva and the poison receded. Since then the Mattu Gulla has become one of the primary ingredients in Udupi cuisine. The tradition still goes on that the first crop of the season is offered to Lord Krishna.

Now, coming back to the arresting views of Pithrody. It was the morning time and the golden sunlight from the East was spreading its aura all around. The Udyavara River silently flowed by one side, while the tamed waves of the Arabian Sea crashed on the shore of the other side. The straight road lined with coconut trees separated them from the union till the Malpe. This is the river mouth where the Udyavara River loses its identity and becomes one with the Arabian Sea.

A lot more of such wondrous coastal Udupi remained unexplored and we had to say goodbye. These ‘lot more to explore’ phrase brings you back to the place again and again. With the hope of revisiting Udupi and seeing the unseen and the seen (again), we started our drive back to Pune.

During our stay in Udupi, we visited the St. Lawrence Shrine Basilica in Karkala. Read my previous post on it.

Stay tuned for my St Mary’s Island post and the post on my visit to Murudeshwar while on our journey back to Pune.