Udupi

Udupi, on the Karnataka coast, is best known today for its Sri Krishna temple and as the home of “Udupi cuisine,” but its history stretches back many centuries. The region originally formed part of Tulu Nadu, with early references under the Alupa rulers, who were feudatories of larger South Indian dynasties and controlled coastal trade and local temples. Fishing, rice cultivation and maritime links across the Arabian Sea shaped everyday life long before Udupi became a famous pilgrimage town.

The turning point came in the 13th century, when the philosopher Sri Madhvacharya, founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta, established the Udupi Sri Krishna Matha. He installed the Krishna idol here and set up the system of eight monasteries (Ashta Mathas) that take turns managing the temple. This made Udupi a major centre of Vaishnavite scholarship and Bhakti, attracting students and pilgrims from across the Kannada- and Tulu-speaking regions.

Over the centuries, Udupi was successively under the Vijayanagara Empire, local Nayakas, the Keladi rulers, and then the Mysore Wodeyars, before coming under British rule within the Madras Presidency. The town remained relatively small but religiously important. In the 19th–20th centuries, Udupi’s temple kitchens and brahmin mathas popularised a distinctive vegetarian cuisine, later carried nationwide by “Udupi hotels.” Today, Udupi’s identity blends ancient Krishna devotion, educational institutions and a busy coastal town economy.