Sri Sacchidananda Bharati I

The Acharya was a native of Madura district and became a very sound Vedic scholar in boyhood. In his 16th year, he went to Sringeri where he was nominated as the 25th Acharya of the Peetham. Shortly after he assumed the headship of Peetham, the new Acharya visited Ikkeri on the invitation of Venkatappa Nayak. From there accompanied by the Nayak, he went to Kollur to worship Goddess Mookambika. No sooner did Virabhadra Nayak ascend the throne of Ikkeri, than Bhairava, chief of Kalasa, invaded his territory and captured a slice of it, which included Sringeri. In his cupidity, he committed the irrelevant act of ordering the Guru to come to his court and compelling him to yield the valuables of the Math.

Nothing perturbed the Guru who went into meditation and refused to yield to aggression. Bhairava then went to Sringeri and plundered its wealth and on his way back defeated the Nayak forces that had come for the relief of the Guru. Thus emboldened, he again went to Sringeri, and when the Guru was about to leave the Math, relief came from Nayak. Bhairava came a third time to plunder the Math. Left with no help but the power of his tapasya, the Guru retired to his meditation, and saw in a vision the mysterious response of the deities in Sringeri, who appeared as bearing arms and attacking the invader. The Guru was soon informed that Bhairava had actually left the town. He celebrated the occasion by composing the poems, Ramachandra Mahodaya, Guru Stuti Satakam, Rama Bhujanga , Meenakshi Ashtakam and Meenakshi Satakam. Virabhadra Nayak, Sivappa Nayak, Bhadrappa Nayak, Hanumappa Nayak and the then rulers bestowed several grants to the Math during this period. On his return from a visit to Bednur, He built a shrine for Bhavani in the Malahanikareshwara temple and started several festivals including a ‘rathotsava’ (car festival) at the temple and also composed t. This festival is held even today following Maha Shivaratri in the benign presence of the Sringeri Jagadguru.