The Mâdhvas are still an energetic and important sect. Their headquarters are at Udipi in South Kanara and they also hold an annual conference at Tirupati at which examinations in theology are held and prizes given. At Udipi are eight maṭhs and a very sacred temple, dedicated by Madhva himself to Kṛishṇa. The head of each maṭh is charged in turn with the supervision of this temple during two years and the change of office is celebrated by a great biennial festival in January. The worship is more puritanical than in the temples of other sects, dancing girls for instance not being allowed, but great importance is attached to the practice of branding the body with the emblems of Vishṇu. The sect, like the Śrî Vaishṇavas, is divided into two parties, the Vyasakutas who are conservative and use Sanskrit scriptures,[603] and the Dasakutas who have more popular tendencies and use sacred books written in Kanarese. Neither the Śrî Vaishṇavas nor the Mâdhvas are numerous in northern India. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 564: Such as the Vishṇu Purâṇa, Vishṇu Dharma, said to be a section of the Garuda Purâṇa and the Bhagavad-gîtâ.] [Footnote 565: The Hindus are well aware that the doctrine of Bhakti spread from the south to the north. See the allegory quoted in _J.R.A.S._ 1911, p. 800.] [Footnote 566: Thus Râmânuja says (Śri Bhâshya, II. 2. 43) that the Vedânta Sûtras do not refute the Sânkhya and Yoga but merely certain erroneous views as to Brahman not being the self.] [Footnote 567: It has been described as the earliest of the Vishnuite Churches and it would be so if we could be sure that the existence of the doctrine called Dvaitâdvaita was equivalent to the existence of the sect. But Bhandarkar has shown some reason for thinking that Nimbâditya lived after Râmânuja. It must be admitted that the worship of Râdhâ and the doctrine of self-surrender or prapatti, both found in the Daśaśloki, are probably late.] [Footnote 568: See Grierson in _E.R.E._ vol. II. p. 457.] [Footnote 569: The Church of the Nimavats is also called Sanakâdi-sampradâya because it professes to derive its doctrine from Sanaka and his brethren who taught Nârada, who taught Nimbârka. At least one sub-sect founded by Harivamsa (born 1559) adopts a doctrine analogous to Saktism and worships Râdhâ as the manifestation of Kṛishṇa's energy.] [Footnote 570: Called the Daśaśloki. It is translated in Bhandarkar's _Vaishṇ and Śaivism_, pp. 63-5.] [Footnote 571: Also spelt Alvar and Azhvar. The Tamil pronunciation of this difficult letter varies in different districts. The word apparently means one who is drowned or immersed in the divine love. Cf. _Azhi_, the deep sea; _Azhal_, being deep or being immersed.] [Footnote 572: An educated Vaishṇava told me at Śrîrangam that devas and saints receive the same homage.] [Footnote 573: It is possible that the poems attributed to Namm'âr̤vâr and other saints are really later compositions. See _Epig. Ind_. vol. VIII. p. 294.]