Mangaluru, 18 Jan 

Sri Sugunendra Teertha, chief of the Puthige mutt, ascended the ‘Paryaya Peeta’ (sacred seat) at Udupi Sri Krishna temple amid festivities in the small hours on Thursday.

For the next two years, the Paryaya seer will oversee the administration and pujas at the Udupi Sri Krishna temple, as per the traditional cyclic rotation of the administration among the eight mutts of Udupi.

Sri Sugunendra Teertha Swami took a holy dip at Dandatheertha lake in Kaup at 1.30 am and reached Jodukatte to take part in the rituals and grand Paryaya procession. He was accompanied by his junior pontiff Sri Susheendra Teertha.

After having darshan of Lord Krishna, the Puthige seer was handed over the charge of the Udupi Sri Krishna temple by Admar mutt seer Sri Vishwapriya Teertha by leading him to the Sarvajna Peeta.

Earlier, various tableaus, ‘pili vesha’ teams and music bands joined the colourful Paryaya procession. The Puttige seers were taken in a beautifully decorated palanquin placed on open vehicles.

Udupi district in-charge minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP and Union Minister Shobha Karandlanje, MLAs Yashpal Suvarna, V Sunil Kumar and former minister Pramod Madhwaraj were present.