This Matha has a glorious history of 750 years. The Symbols and Idols installed by Acharya Madhwa are worshipped by the pontiffs of the Martha even to this day. Sri Samputa which is in this place is one of the rare wonders of the world. Sri Vadiraja, who had the knowledge of past, present and future has elaborately praised this closed metal container specially in his work Theertha Prabhandha. Sans
krit Sloka :
Yatra samputamaspotam krishnasya sphorayatyaho
Agrahyatvamadrushyatwam kimpunastatra panditaha
Abhedyamathiyatnenapyaskhalatakrushna vigraham
Tatpujaabhajanam bhati madhvam hrudiva samputam. It is not possible to open this metal container which is closed with a cover. It has the presence of the almighty at all times. It is not possible to open this closed container with any amount of effort. Therefore it is compared to the hrudaya samputa – case containing the heart of acharya Madhwa. It is worshipped every day. It is not possible to say, of what basic material this case is made of. It is said to be of oil bronze, size that of a measure made by putting both the hands together. It has a lid with a handle or holder on its head. But it cannot be opened. The first pontiff of the matha Sri Vishnutheertha did not enter into brindavana. The disciples of the matha believe that even today he is performing penance in Siddha parvatha, one of the mountain tops of Kumara parvatha range. He handed over charge of the matha to Sri Anirudhatheertha, a disciple of Sri Madhwacharya and went to the mountain top to engage himself in penance. He had taken the Samputa – the closed case containing Shalagramas with him. At the request of Sri Anirudhatheertha, he sent back the samputa through the river Kumaradhara. When Sri Anirudhatheertha was the pontiff of the matha there was a chieftain by name Ballala Raya. He thought that this samputa may be having precious treasures in it. He tried to get it opened. He tried to get it opened by trampling it under the feet of an elephant. But what actually transpired made every one awe struck. The chieftain went through a sensation of severe burning and the elephant died. The samputa remained intact. Ballala Raya repented for his misadventure and in atonement he handed over the ownership and administration of the Subrahmanya temple, all the movable and immovable properties belonging to the temple to the pontiff of the matha Sri Anirudhatheertha. Till recently, till a few decades back, the pontiffs of the Matha were managing and administering the affairs and properties of the temple. This must be the reason for Sri Vadiraja to compare the Samputa to the heart of Sri Madhwacharya and stated it to be impregnable. (Now the Subrahmanya temple is under the Mujarai department of the state)
When Sri Madhwacharya visited the holy place of Subrahmanya, there was a matha following the traditions of Bhagavatha Sampradaya. The system of worship was panchayathana. Those in charge of the matha, became the desciples of Sri Madhwacharya and handed over the matha to Sri Madhwacharya. Sri Madhwacharya who took the beautiful idle of smiling Narasimha, which represented Lord Vishnu, installed the idols of Sri Vedavyasa, Samputa, Narasimha, Sri Panduranga Vithala accompanied by Rukmini and Sathyabhama and one separate handful of Vyasa mushtike to be worshipped in the matha. The remaining idols of Aditya, Ambika, Gananatha, Maheshwara of the Bhagavatha tradition can be seen in the Umamaheshwara temple which is on the left side of the temple. Both Subrahmanya temple and Subrahmanya matha are in the same compound. The priest who conducts the worship of Sri Subrahmanya gets the upadesha of the moolamantra-scantified transmission of the sacred mantra from the mentor to the disciple- from the pontiff of the matha. The priests who perform the worship in Sri Subrahmanya matha belong to the lineage of Sri Vishnu Teertha and they are always young Brahmacharis who take to the life of mendicants in their childhood (balabrahmachari yatis). The festivities of Narasimha Jayanthi are performed with grandeur in Sri Matha from the Dwadashi of the ascending fortnight of Vysakha to the descending (bahula) prathipath of Vyshaka of every year. The idols installed and worshipped in the Sri Matha that is the idols Sri Vyasa, Vithala, Samputa, Narasimha and other idols bestow the devotees with progeny, marriage etc. in this Sri matha which has a glorious tradition of 750 years. Devotees who undertake the pilgrimage to Subrahmanya kshetra are certain to get the desires abundantly fulfilled if they get the darshana of the idols in the Subrahmanya temple and Sri Subrahmanya matha and get the blessing of the pontiffs of the matha. Sri Vidyaprasanna Teertha Sripadaru, the present pontiff of the matha is the 40th pontiff of the matha.
