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The kAshi maTa was started for kochi gowda saraswath brahmin (GSB) community by shri vijayIndra tIrtharu of rAyara maTa (then called vibhudEndra maTa). It was around 1540 AD when he was doing chAturmAsya in Cochi at the invitation of the GSB community he agreed to initiate a vaTu from the GSB Community. He gave sanyAsa at kAshi and had a maTa built there. Hence it came to be known as kAshi maTa. The parampare continues to this day. Only btahmachArIs come into the pITa in this maTa.
Guru Parampara
The kAshi maTa was started for kochi gowda saraswath brahmin (GSB) community by shri vijayIndra tIrtharu of rAyara maTa (then called vibhudEndra maTa). It was around 1540 AD when he was doing chAturmAsya in Cochi at the invitation of the GSB community he agreed to initiate a vaTu from the GSB Community. He gave sanyAsa at kAshi and had a maTa built there. Hence it came to be known as kAshi maTa. The parampare continues to this day. Only btahmachArIs come into the pITa in this maTa.
Guru Parampara
- Yadavendra Thirtha -I
- Keshavendra Thirtha
- Upendra Thirtha -I
- Yadavendra Thirtha -II
- Raghavendra Thirtha
- Devendra Thirtha
- Madhavendra Thirtha
- Jnaneendra Thirtha
- Yadavendra Thirtha -III
- Upendra Thirtha -II
- Rajendra Thirtha
- Vishnu Thirtha
- Sureendra Thirtha
- Vibhudendra Thirtha
- Sumatheendra Thirtha
- Vasudendra Thirtha
- Bhuvanendra Thirtha
- Varadendra Thirtha
- Sukrathindra Thirtha
- Sudhindra Thirtha
- Samyamindra Thirtha
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info from wikipedia.org---> The Kashi Math follows the Guru-shishya tradition where the Guru of the Math initiates a shishya to succeed him upon his Samadhi.[7] Samyamindra Thirtha is the 21st and current head (Mathadipathi) of the Math.
Kashi Math is a spiritual organisation followed by the Madhva section of Goud Saraswat Brahmins,who are also referred as Madhwa Saraswat Brahmins or Vaishnava Saraswat Brahmins.[1][2] It is one of the ancient Madhva mathas of the Dvaitaorder,which dates back to the 16th century. With its headquarters in Brahma Ghat, Varanasi.[3][4] Kashi Math has followers all over the Konkan belt, prominently in Goa, Udupi, Mangalore, Kochi, Alappuzha and other parts of Kerala and Karnataka.[5]
Kashi Math is a spiritual organisation followed by the Madhva section of Goud Saraswat Brahmins,who are also referred as Madhwa Saraswat Brahmins or Vaishnava Saraswat Brahmins.[1][2] It is one of the ancient Madhva mathas of the Dvaitaorder,which dates back to the 16th century. With its headquarters in Brahma Ghat, Varanasi.[3][4] Kashi Math has followers all over the Konkan belt, prominently in Goa, Udupi, Mangalore, Kochi, Alappuzha and other parts of Kerala and Karnataka.[5]
by U Sudhish Pai--->
Shri Kashi Math Samsthan, Varanasi is a Dharma Peetha of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) community – a religious institution with glorious traditions and a hoary past. The GSBs are those Saraswats who migrated from Goudadesha, known as Trihothrapura in the Puranas. The Peetha has been occupied and adorned by great Yatis who radiate spirituality and divinity.
Amongst various obligations that we owe to society and one another, there is the Rishi runa or Yati runa- the debt we owe to our preceptors and scholars. Among the millions and millions who inhabit this planet we are fortunate to take birth as Brahmins and even more blessed to be GSBs, born with a Kuladevata, Ishtadevata, Gramadevata and a Dharma Peetha with the Dharma Guru. Not all societies are blessed thus. We owe it to ourselves to be aware of our past- the history of the Dharma Peetha and the Guru Parampara. ‘To know modern times one must know antiquity.’ Historic continuity with the past is both a duty and a necessity. One should have a sense of history as well as an awareness of it. Without it life would be humdrum and prosaic. Human existence is not just animal existence but a yearning and preparation for better and higher things, the attainment of which would not be possible without adherence to Dharma-Dharma which protects those who adhere to it and that would be possible only with the help and guidance of a Dharma Guru. This paper is set and built on that theme.
All institutions are the result and expression of the accumulated experience of ages. Change is the law of nature-but there are certain things and ideas which are immutable and unchanging. The old order, it is true, changes, yielding place to the new, but it always leaves to its successor a large legacy of ideas and habits, which in their turn become the nucleus of fresh acquisitions, each generation leaving its mark on succeeding generations. All human institutions have all the centuries in them and like the organic world obey the law of evolution by which they are gradually transmuted. We cannot rightly interpret or understand the present without some knowledge of the past. One does not know how much awareness of all this is there in us.
We GSBs have our distinct customs and traditions, language and culture. All this makes up the personality of a person. Tradition, it is said, is an enormous magnifier. But it is not like instant coffee. Every generation would have to cherish it and defend it and carry it forward. It is imperative for us as for any other race or community to cherish and preserve our culture and heritage. This has to be cherished and preserved primarily at the family level at home. Hence the importance of the institution of marriage and family and its sanctity. The hallmark of India is no doubt unity in diversity. While we mingle with the rest of the society we cannot allow our identity to be lost. Existence without identity would not be ‘life’ or ‘living’- it would not be worthwhile. The institutions of temples and Maths help us and guide us to preserve and nourish all this. Thus their need and importance.
In earlier times it was the Rishi Parampara which imparted religious and spiritual knowledge and guidance and tended the people. The Rishi Parampara consisted of various eminent sages who were basically in the grihastashrama and who had their ashrams and gurukulas and the baton was passed on from the Guru to the Shishya. The origin of Math- monastic institution can be traced to the Buddhist period. The congregation of monks was known as Sangha and their monastery was called Vihara or Sangharama. Such institutions were firmly established during the time of Buddha. One of the sacred books of the Buddhists, the Vinaya Pitaka contains elaborate rules regulating the conduct of monks and the affairs of monasteries. It is after the time of Shri Adi Shankara that the system of Maths as we know them now with a Mathadhipathi and a Yati Parampara began. A Math is a religious institution presided over by a spiritual head, the Mathadhipathi. The Maths founded by Adi Shankara were modelled on the Buddhist Vihara and many of the rules of the monastic order were taken from the Vinaya Pitaka. He gave the whole thing a Vedic garb. He based the idea of renunciation at any period of a man’s life on the Vedic text : Yadhreva virajet tadhreva prabrajet– which lays down generally that the moment a man develops non attachment to the things of the world, he is at liberty to renounce the world. The Mathadhipathi is one who has taken sanyas and is in the fourth ashrama- it could either be a Bramhachari taking sanyas or sanyas being taken by one who has passed through the grihastashram.
A brief history and background of the origin of Shri Kashi Math Samsthan and its relation to the Cochin Temple and Mahajan as narrated by Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji to me on Jan 26, 2004—
The Goud Saraswath Brahmins in Kerala and large parts of Karnataka were affiliated to and were disciples of the Kumbakonam Math (now known more popularly as Shri Raghavendra Swami Math, Mantralaya). In the Guru Parampara of that Math was a Yati- Shrimad Surendra Tirtha Swamiji. His disciple and successor was Shrimad Vijayindra Tirtha Swamiji who brought to Cochin the idol of Lord Venkateswara from the Vijayanagar empire (worshipped by Saluva Narasimha Raja). To Shrimad Vijayindra Tirtha Swamiji, who observed Chaturmasa at Cochin in about 1539 A.D. the Goud Saraswath Brahmins of Cochin made an earnest request that the Goud Saraswath Samaj should have a Dharma Peetha and Dharma Guru of their own. The Swamiji in consultation with his Guru Shrimad Surendra Tirtha Swamiji acceded to the prayer and asked the GSB Mahajan of Cochin to select a suitable vatu and a place at Varanasi and proceed thereto for the initiation of the new Sanyasin. The vatu, said to be Hanumantha Bhat in his purvashram, was thus initiated at Varanasi on the banks of the sacred Ganga and was named as Shrimad Yadavendra Tirtha Swamiji. His Holiness was given the idols of Lord Rama and Lord Vyasa for worship and all other paraphernalia befitting and required for a Mathadhipathi. Thus Shrimad Yadavendra Tirtha Swamiji became the first Yati and Mathadhipathi of Shri Kashi Math Samsthan which was founded at the behest and with the efforts of the GSB Mahajan of Cochin in 1541-1542 AD. This is the great and significant historical link between Shri Kashi Math Samsthan and the Cochin Mahajan who have both the special privilege and responsibility of cherishing the Samsthan and ensuring its smooth working and onward march and succession to the Peetha.
This special relationship and tradition has been there for the last five centuries. This tradition was given express recognition with reason when Shrimad Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji, the present Mathadhipathi initiated a vatu into sanyashrama and performed the Shishya Sweekar ceremony in 2002 (June 20, 2002). Preceding that Shishya Sweekar and for the said purpose, Shri Swamiji sent a Rayasapatram dated 1st September 2001 to Cochin Thirumala Devaswom Temple reminding the Cochin Mahajan of the special historical ties between them and the Samsthan and as per the usage of the Samsthan calling upon them to get the horoscopes of Brahmacharis from Kochi and the nearby Samoohams for selecting a suitable vatu for initiation into Sanyasa ashram to perpetuate the holy Guruparamapara of the Samsthan. The Cochin Mahajan has also the privilege of performing the first Padapooja to the Swamiji after the Shishya Sweekar and offering Patta Kanika and garlanding the Swamiji on special occasions.
This has been the special relationship between Shri Kashi Math Samsthan and the Cochin Temple and Mahajan and the unbroken tradition of the Samsthan which is to be cherished, preserved and carried forward and adhered to always.
The history and evolution of our Math Samsthan apart from furnishing information about events unfolds a procession of great personages who apart from scaling rare peaks of excellence in religion and spirituality, are models of good, simple living and great thinking, showing us how to live a life of promise and fulfilment made possible by ceaseless striving, devotion and dedication backed by the grace of the Almighty. They exemplified what is said in the Chandogya Upanishad: Yadeva vidyaya karothi, shraddaya, upanishada, tadeva viryavattaram bhavati- Whatever is done with vidya (knowledge), shraddha (faith and conviction- the totality of positive attitudes) and upanishad (deep thinking- contemplation) becomes supremely efficient. Of each of these stellar spiritual giants it may be said “his is truly clarum et venerable nomen”(an illustrious and venerable name).
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Yadavendra Thirtha -I
Keshavendra Thirtha (Rama Bhat)
Upendra Thirtha -I (Anantha Bhat)
Yadavendra Thirtha -II (Hanumanta Bhat)
Raghavendra Thirtha -I (Narayana Bhat)
Devendra Thirtha
Madhavendra Thirtha
Jnaneendra Thirtha
Yadavendra Thirtha -III
Upendra Thirtha -II
Rajendra Thirtha
Sureendra Thirtha
Vishnu Thirtha
Vibhudendra Thirtha
Sumatheendra Thirtha
Vasudendra Thirtha
Bhuvanendra Thirtha (Narasimha Kammath)
Varadendra Thirtha (Giri Mallya)
Sukrathindra Thirtha (Sreenivasa Prabhu)
Sudhindra Thirtha (Sadhasiva Shenoy)
Keshavendra Thirtha (Rama Bhat)
Upendra Thirtha -I (Anantha Bhat)
Yadavendra Thirtha -II (Hanumanta Bhat)
Raghavendra Thirtha -I (Narayana Bhat)
Devendra Thirtha
Madhavendra Thirtha
Jnaneendra Thirtha
Yadavendra Thirtha -III
Upendra Thirtha -II
Rajendra Thirtha
Sureendra Thirtha
Vishnu Thirtha
Vibhudendra Thirtha
Sumatheendra Thirtha
Vasudendra Thirtha
Bhuvanendra Thirtha (Narasimha Kammath)
Varadendra Thirtha (Giri Mallya)
Sukrathindra Thirtha (Sreenivasa Prabhu)
Sudhindra Thirtha (Sadhasiva Shenoy)
Samyamindra Thirtha
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