B. N. K. Sharma's academic history says plainly that Akshobhya Tirtha was "not distinguished as a writer." One work, the Madhva-tattva-sara-samgraha, is attributed to him by a single source, but no manuscript of it has ever been located. From the title alone, Sharma judges that it was probably a short manual of Dvaita doctrine rather than a major philosophical treatise. What Akshobhya Tirtha is independently documented to have done, instead of written, is found in the institutions and consecrated deities that survive from his time as pontiff.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Matha founded | Sri Kudli Akshobhya Tirtha Matha, at the confluence of the Tunga and Bhadra rivers near Shivamogga |
| Successor at Kudli | His disciple Trailokya Bhushana Tirtha |
| Deity consecrated at Kudli | Chintamani Narasimha |
| Deity consecrated at Mulbagal | Angara Narasimha, traditionally said to have been sketched in charcoal that transformed into an idol |
| Deity consecrated near Shivamogga | Mukhyaprana (Hanuman), at Pillangiri |
| Dated inscription | A Kannada copper-plate grant of 1337 CE recording a purificatory rite he performed at Malkhed |
A Matha at the Meeting of Two Rivers #
At Kudli, where the Tunga and Bhadra rivers meet near present-day Shivamogga, Akshobhya Tirtha is credited with consecrating a Deity of Chintamani Narasimha and founding a matha that continues in an unbroken line to this day, now known as the Sri Kudli Akshobhya Tirtha Matha. Sri Vyasaraja Matha's own succession record states that Akshobhya Tirtha trained Jayatirtha as his eventual successor on the Madhva Peetha itself. Separately, he also ordained another disciple, Trailokya Bhushana Tirtha, specifically to carry forward this Kudli institution. That made a second, parallel line of succession, distinct from the main pontifical seat that passed to Jayatirtha. That Kudli line, under various names, survives independently to the present.
Deities at Mulbagal and Pillangiri #
Two further consecrations are recorded from Akshobhya Tirtha's travels through the region around Kolar and Shivamogga. At Mulbagal, the same town where his debate with Vidyaranya took place, tradition credits him with consecrating a Deity of Narasimha called Angara Narasimha, "the charcoal Narasimha." He is said to have first sketched the form on a hillock in charcoal, and the sketch then took shape as an idol. Near Shivamogga, at a site called Pillangiri, he is separately credited with consecrating a Deity of Mukhyaprana, the name Madhva-sampradaya tradition uses for Hanuman as the incarnation of Vayu. These accounts come from Dvaita-tradition sources rather than independent archaeological or academic confirmation, and they are presented here honestly as tradition, not as verified historical fact.
One Firmly Dated Act #
Amid material that is mostly traditional and undated, one specific act of Akshobhya Tirtha's rests on genuinely independent, dateable evidence. B. N. K. Sharma's academic history cites a Kannada copper-plate grant, dated Sarvajit era 1337 CE and brought to scholarly attention by the researcher Kapatral Krishnarao. It records a purificatory rite (prayashchitta) that Akshobhya Tirtha personally administered at Malkhed to two men, Ranganna and Damanna, described as Patils (village headmen), restoring their lost standing as Brahmins. This is a small act next to a philosophical debate or a temple consecration. But it is rarer and more valuable for a historian, precisely because it survives on a dated, physical inscription rather than in a later devotional retelling. It is direct evidence that Akshobhya Tirtha was, in 1337 CE, an actively functioning religious authority at Malkhed, the same town where his own samadhi would later be established.
