Sri Vyas Ashram, Haridwar

Kashi Math
Deities of Samsthan Kashi Math
Geography
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
Location	Varanasi
Culture
Primary deity	Vyasa Raghupathi Narasimha
History and governance
Website	www.kashimath.org

Kashi Math is a spiritual organisation followed by the Madhva section of Goud Saraswat Brahmins,who are also referred as Madhwa Saraswat Brahmins.It is one of the 24 Madhva Mathas of the Dvaita order. With its headquarters in Brahma Ghat, Varanasi. Kashi Math has followers all over the Konkan belt, prominently in Goa, Udupi, Mangalore, Kochi, Alappuzha and other parts of Kerala and Karnataka.

The principal deities of Kashi Math are charaprathishta (“moving installation") idols of Vyasa, Rama and Narasimha, who are also collectively known as the Vyasa Raghupathi Narasimha.

The Kashi Math follows the Guru-shishya tradition where the Guru of the Math initiates a shishya to succeed him upon his death.Samyamindra Thirtha (Umesh Mallan) is the 21st and current head (Mathadipathi) of the Math. Prior heads have been:

On 7 July 1989, in accordance with the guru-shishya tradition, the then guru, Sudhindra Thirtha, initiated a follower into sanyasa so that in due course they would succeed him as the 21st guru. For reasons not fully known, serious differences between Sudhindra Tirtha and his appointed successor, Raghavendra Tirtha, became apparent around 2000–2001 amidst concerns about insubordination and integrity. On 19 July 2000, the mathadipathi removed Raghavendra Tirtha from his position of successor by making use of an earlier communication from November 1999 which had requested relief from the tutelage. This removal necessitated the initiation of a new shishya to succeed Sudindra Thirtha and this was done on 20 June 2002 when Samyamindra Thirtha was initiated.

Thereafter the tussle among the pontiffs turned into a dispute over the control of the Kashi Math and the ownership of its relics. Those relics included about 234 pieces of jewelry and silver articles, as well as 27 idols including the main idol of Vyasa Raghupathi. Raghavendra Tirtha had possession of these items but was ordered by Court in Tirupathi to give them to Sudhindra Tirtha. The Court upheld the status of the senior pontiff and the mathadhipathi, accepted the junior’s abdication and directed him to return all belongings of the math and refrain from interfering in its affairs.