The very place where Lord vayu decided to incarnate for the third time. Pajaka is a small sleepy village engulfed by the natural beauty of Western ghat. It is 13km from udupi. The chief proponent of tatvavada (dwaita philosophy) was incarnated in this very place.
The main attraction In pajaka kshetra is the house in which Acharya Madhwa was born and brought up. Currently the house is maintained by kaniyoor mutt.
The house has an idol of Lord anantheshwara that was worshiped by Madhwacharya and his ancestors. Madhwacharya was believed to be born on vijayadashami day and the room of his birth is still preserved.
Vasudeva was the poorvashrama name of Madhwacharya and he was the first son of Nadillaya (Madhyageha bhattaru) and Vedavathi. Most of the pastimes and miracles performed by vasudeva was in and around pajaka.
The stone that was used for initiating vasudeva into learning (aksharabhayasa) can be still seen at his house. This stone is still used to initiate children into learning. This stone goes by the name 'aksharabhyasa shila'.
At the back left exit from the house, one can find an old tamarind tree. This is the place where vasudeva cleared the dept of his father.
The story goes like -father of Vasudeva had borrowed some money from a rich merchant kanka shetty and was not able to repay the loan in stipulated time. Demanding repayment, kanka shetty sat at Madhyageha's house at the stroke of lunch. Innocently vasudeva went to call his father for lunch . The committed Madhyageha refused to have lunch with Shetty's presence. Child vasudeva held shetty by his hand and escorted by him shetty was taken towards this tamarind tree. Vasudeva picked up a few seeds laying on the ground and offered it to shetty as repayment. Shetty was moved by the child's gesture and left from Madhyageha's house.
After a few days, Madhyageha coined up his dept and went to Shetty's home to clear it. Shetty said that his son had already cleared the Dept. Shetty told the incident of seeds given by vasudeva and how it turned into gold when he reached home.
Even to this day, a tamarind seed is given to the devotees as a blessing of prosperity from Madhwacharya.
Vasudeva theertha:
It was a routine for vasudeva to getup early In the morning and making a short treck through dense forest to kunjarugiri durga Betta. Vasudeva used to bath in the 4 theertha (ponds) created by parashurama. These 4 theertha's are situated in and around durga Betta namely ( gadha , dhanusu , bana and parashu theertha). After bathing in the theertha's, vasudeva used to have darshan of durga Devi and parashurama before returning home. Vasudeva's mother was worried that a little boy going through the forest at dawn was very dangerous owing to wild animals and thieves. She expressed her anxiety to vasudeva. To suppress his mother's anxiety, vasudeva created a pond in the north west side of his home. This pond came to be known as vasudeva theertha.
Mother now felt guilty that she had snatched punya derived by bathing in the 4 theertha's from vasudeva. Again child Madhwa showed his miracles. He planted a twig upside down and challenged his mother that if the twig sprouts from it's roots, then the power vested in the 4 theertha's is present in vasudeva theertha. To his mother's disbelief, the twig started sprouting proving Madhwa's theory.
