connection.

Before the Mahabharatha war when the kings of neighboring places were taking either the side of the Pandavas or the Kauravas. The udupi king was in a dilemma he approached Lord Krishna for advice.

The Udupi king had a small army and knew that whichever side he joined his people would easily die. Hence he approached Lord Krishna, who suggested he could take the responsibility to cook for both the parties and contribute to the war. The Udupi king readily agreed and managed to arrange exemplary food for the warring armies. 

“Everyone is going to fight. Those who fight a battle have to eat. I will be the caterer for the Kurukshetra war.” 

You know, the Udupi cuisine is quite popular. Even today, a lot of the Udupi people are caterers. 

The battle lasted for 18 days. Every day, thousands of people died. It was a challenge to manage the catering. If you keep cooking for the same number of people, a lot of food would go waste. If you cook less and the soldiers do not have enough food, it will not be good either. But the Udupi king served well. Amazingly, every day when he cooked, the food was enough for all the soldiers, and no food was wasted. People were amazed how he managed to cook the exact amount of food, because no one knew how many people died on each day. By the time they took accounts, it would have been too late. Definitely, the caterer did not know how many people died on that day, but every day, he cooked exactly the amount of food that was necessary for the remaining soldiers. 

Peanuts and the no of diners.

Then the King of Udupi clarified this secret and said that he used to give counted peanuts to Shrikrishna to eat in the night. Udupi King estimates the food to cook for the next day based on the leftover peanuts count in multiple of Thousands. i.e if 5 peanuts were left then he can expect 5000 soldiers will be killed in battle the next day.

That means if they were 50 peanuts left, it would mean that 50000 warriors will be killed in the battle for the second day. Thus the Udupi King used to cook the next meal in the same proportion. Thus, food never got wasted at any time.

Knowing this miracle of Shri Krishna, all were ammazed. This story is often heard in Krishna Mutt of Udupi district of Karnataka. It believed that this monastery was established by the Emperor of Udupi.