Sri Vadiraja Tirtha belonged to the Vaishnava Sampradaya of the Madhva Sect. In importance, he is considered to be next only to Swami Ananda Thirtha by the followers of the Madhva sect. He said to have lived for 112 years, between 1480 and 1600, in the present day Karnataka.
He acted for several years as the head of the Sodhe Math, one of the eight Matths founded by Sri Madhavacharya. During his administration, he increased the tenure of the Matth’s administration from 2 months to two years. A supreme devotee of Lord Vishnu, his life was also filled with some interesting of miracles. He was also responsible for the installation of Sri Manjunâtha (Shiva), the main deity of the temple at Dharmasthala and for the appointment of the Madhva priests to perform the daily worship in the Shiva temple. He composed several devotional songs in Kannada, some of which are still available.