The 6th maTha among the Udupi aShTa maThas is the Sode maTha. Two great yatis of all times have adorned the peeTha of this maTha. They are Sri Vishnu teertha and Sri Vadiraja teertha.

Sri Vishnu teertha was the first peeThAdhipati of Sode maTha. He was the younger brother of Sri Madhwacharya in poorvAshrama. He is still said to be alive and performing tapasya at the Kumaradri hills near Kukke Subrahmanya. In distant future he is supposed to revive the Tatvavaada philosophy once again, which by then would have become extinct. For this same purpose Sri Madhwacharya is believed to have preserved his sarvamoola granthas on copper plates, and buried them in a place called Kadtila or Setutila. Incidentally, Sri Vishnu teertha is also the founder of Kukke Subrahmanya maTha.

Sri Sode maTha is unique amongst the Udupi aShTa maThas in the sense that its headquarter is situated at a place called Sode in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, whereas all the remaining 7 maThas have their headquarters in Udupi district itself. Interestingly, this maTha was originally known by the name KumbhAshi maTha, with main branch at KumbhAshi near Udupi. (Sri Vadiraja teertha’s birth place Huvinakere is very near to KumbhAshi.) But during the time of Sri Vadiraja, the main branch of this maTha got shifted to Sode, and then onwards it came to be known as Sode maTha.

The main deity of Sode maTha is Sri BhUvarAha, presented to Sri Vishnu teertha by Sri Madhwacharya himself. This idol is known for its beautiful iconography with one thigh of VarAha supporting BhUdEvi, and another leg on the hood of a serpent. Along with this idol, the idol of Lord Hayagreeva is also worshiped in this maTha, which was presented by a local goldsmith to Sri Vadiraja.