Shri Vidyavallabha Teertha Swamiji

Shri Vidyavallabha Teertha Swamiji was the first peetadipati of Prayag Madhwa Matha. He made enormous effort to propagate the Madhwa Siddhanta in North India, especially in Allahabad.

His Poorvashrama name was Kushtagi Ramachar and he was an IPS Officer.  He was in Badrinath in search of an able Guru. Upon the suggestions of Pilgrims, he met Shri Vidhyamanya Teertha Swamiji of Shri Palimaru Matha. Shri Vidyamanya Teertha Swamiji was the Chief Pontiff of Palimaru Math from 1925 to 2000.  He was also the Chief Pontiff of Shri Bhandarakeri Math for some time.

Shri Kushtagi Ramachar took sanyas from Shri Vidyamanya Teertha Swamiji in 1965-66 and was named as Shri Vidyavallabha Teertharu.  From 1970 he used to attend the Prayag Magh Mela every year, stay with Shri Narayanacharya of Shri Uttaradi Math and give Pravachan in the Banks of Ganges for 2 months and then used to go to Badrinath Yatra. Shri Vidyavallabha Teertharu laid the foundation for the Anantha Math located in Badrinath.

One of his followers, Shri Satya Prakash Malaviya, who was highly impressed with his thought provoking pravachanas, requested Swamiji to give a Pravachan in the Geetha Prasashan Pandal.  He used to attract good crowd and several people used to attend his Pravachans wherever he goes. His incessant dvaita dissemination through melas attracted lot of interest in Madhwa Siddhanta among people. So powerful was his appeal that several Brahmin families took Madhwa Deeksha from him.

Shri Vidyavallabha Teertha Swamiji also organized a 3-day debate program in Varanasi (Kashi) in 1981 in which Shri Vidyamanya Teertha Swamiji also participated. 

Shri Vidyavallabha Teertha Swamiji used to frequently go to Kolkata to give pravachan with the people of Gita Press. It was during one such visit he met the people of Kali Kamali and purchased a land from them in Prayag (Allahabad) for the purpose of Propagating Madhwa Philosophy in North India.  He took permission and blessings of his Guru Shri Vidyamanya Teertha Swamiji for this cause and proceeding in establishing the center.

Several of his disciples including Shri Giridhari Lal Mishra, Shri Manshing, Shri B.N. Verma, Shri Lal Pratap Singh and Shri Krishna Rao assisted Swamiji in establishing the Prayag Madhwa Math.  Swamiji himself worked physically in building the Math.

Shri Vidyavallabha Teertha Swamiji translated several works of Shriman Madhwacharyaru in Hindi, during his tenure as Peetadipati of Prayag Madhwa Matha. His translation work includes the following

• Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya – Chapter 1 & 2 published as “Sarva Shastra Tatparya Nirnaya”
• Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya – Chapter 3 published as “Ramayana Tatparya Nirnaya”
• 5 Major Upanishads
• Shrimad Bhagavat – Chapter 1 to 3
• Bimba Roopa Upasana
• Stree Dharma
• Ekadasi Mahatmyam