Believed to be the first temple of Saraswat-s, its origin is traced to the Sanket given by the Divine in 1560, through a dream, to a devotee who had gone to worship the Lord at the Subramanya Temple. Following the sacred instructions the devotee brought the idol and first consecrated it at Vokketur and was then ‘told’ to take it to Vittal, where it was installed in 1660. But the idols had to be spirited away to Mangaluru to protect them from a plundering ruler and were finally consecrated at Vittal in the Presence of Parama Pujya Keshavashram Swamiji in 1804 AD (Vaishakha shuddha trayodashi of Rudhirogiri Samvatsara).
In 1810 a Shivalingam was consecrated here. Although two major fires destroyed it during the 1820s, devotees did not give up and finally, in 1835 (Jyeshtha shuddha purnima of Durmukhi Samvatsara) the pratishtha was done in the Presence of Parama Pujya Vamanashram Swamiji. Parama Pujya Pandurangashram Swamiji attended the Brahmakalash (periodic consecration) ceremony on February 23, 1912 and both our 9th and 10th Mathadhipati-s -Parama Pujya Anandashram Swamiji as well as Parama Pujya Parijnanashram Swamiji III always tried to be at Vittal for the annual, spectacular Vittal Shashthi festival.