Lord Narayana, in his incarnation as Parasurama, after making twenty one assaults on the Kshatriyas and destroying them, performed a great yajna. In this yajna, he gave away all the land as gift to Brahmins. Finding that he was not left with any land for himself and reluctant to stay in the land already given away as gift, he reclaimed from the Arabian sea a strip of land from Gokarna to cape Comorin. This coastal strip of land, obtained by Parasurama from Varuna the Sea God, is known as Parasurama Kshetra or Parasurama's land. Ramaboja, a great devotee of Parasurama, was proclaimed king of this land. Intending to perform Ashwamedha yajna or horse sacrifice, Ramabhoja got the site for sacrificial fire ploughed up. While ploughing, a serpent got killed by the ploughshare.

Although this serpent was nothing but a demon in disguise, Ramabhoja was greatly worried as it was a sin to kill a serpent.To atone this sin, he was directed by lord Parasurama to build a big silver pedestal with the image of a serpent at each of its four corners and to worship him who would be seated in spirit on the pedestal and also to distribute gold equal to his own weight to deserving persons. Ramabhoja did likewise and performed the Aswamedha yajna successfully. At its conclusion, Lord Parasurama appeared and declared that he was pleased with the yajna and that henceforth the sacrificial land "Roopya Peetha" (silver pedestal) would become a famous pilgrimage.This land is also known as "Thoulava" land and because Ramabhoja performed "Tulabhara".This in brief is the ancient history or the legend, of this land.The place where the moon performed penance and obtained grace is known as Udupi.

The weather is fairly equable throughout the year, due to the nearby Arabian sea. Temperature ranges from 30 to 35 degrees centigrade in day time and is around 25 degrees during the night. Humidity is normally high most of the time.The rainy season is from April to September. At this time the monsoon shows its true colours in this area. Within seconds, you can find yourself soaked in kilo-litres of rain water.

Udupi's economy depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Small-scale industries like the cashew industry, and other food industries and milk cooperatives are the most prominent. There is no large-scale industry in Udupi. The Karnataka Government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Cogentrix Light and Power Industry to set up a thermal power plant in the district at Nandikur. However, because of stiff opposition from citizens and environmentalist groups, the project has been temporarily suspended. An attempt by the Nagarjuna Power Corporation to set up a similar plant at nearby Padubidri also met strong opposition.Udupi had a population of 113,039. Males constituted 49% of the population and females 51%. The average literacy rate was 83%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; male literacy was 86% and female literacy 81%. Eight percent of the population was under 6 years of age.

The flora of Udupi contains descriptions of 1242 species of flowering plants belonging to 694 genera and 171 families.In fauna elephant is the main animal.There are many wildlife sanctuaries in the state and they have a rich variety of flora and fauna.