Nathdwara and Dwarkadhish Temple in Mewar region of India – are important Krishna pilgrimage center. He is regarded as an incarnation of Agni (Vaishwanar Agni Swaroop of Shri Krishna's face). Life Childhood The ancestors of Vallabhacharya hailed from the Andhra region and belonged to a long line of Somyagya Performing Telugu Vaidiki Brahmins known as Velanadu or Vellanatiya following the Vishnu Swami school of thought. According to devotional accounts, Krishna commanded his ancestor Yagnanarayana Bhatta that he would take birth in their family after completion of 100 Somayagnas (fire sacrifices). By the time of Yagnanarayana's descendant Lakshmana Bhatta who migrated to the holy town of Varanasi, the family had completed 100 Somayagnas. Vallabhacharya was born to Shri Lakshmana Bhatta and his wife IllammaGaru in 1479 CE (V.S. 1535) on the 11th day of the dark half of lunar month of chaitra at Champaranya, now in Chhattisgarh. The period surrounding Vallabhacharya's birth was a tumultuous one and most of northern and central India was being influenced by Muslim invaders. It was common for populations to migrate in order to flee from religious persecution and conversion. On one such occasion, Shri Lakshmana Bhatta had to urgently move out of Varanasi with his pregnant wife. Due to terror and physical strain of the flight suffered by the mother, there was a premature birth of the child, two months in advance. As the child did not show signs of life, the distressed parents placed Vallabh under a tree wrapped in a piece of cloth. Krishna appeared in a dream before the parents of Vallabhacharya and signified that He Himself had taken birth as the child who they had left under a tree mistaken to be not alive. According to popular accounts, the parents rushed to the spot and were amazed to find their baby alive and protected by a circle of divine fire. The blessed mother extended her arms into the fire unscathed; she received from the fire the divine baby, gleefully to her bosom. The child was named Vallabha (meaning "the dear one" in Sanskrit). Education His education commenced at the age of seven with the study of four Vedas, Upnishads, Puranas, Shat Darshan. He acquired mastery over the books expounding the six systems of Indian philosophy. He also learnt and studied philosophical systems of Adi Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka along with the Buddhist, Jain, Cārvāka,etc schools. He was able to recite a