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Adi Shankara


Adi ShankaraAdi Shankara

Adi Shankaracharya statue Date of Birth Place of birth Birth Date of death 788 CE Kalady, Kerala, India Shankara 820 CE[1]

Place of death Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, India Guru/Teacher Govinda Bhagavatpada Philosophy Advaita Vedanta

Titles/Honors Introduced Advaita Vedanta, Hindu Revivalism, Founded Dashanami Sampradaya, Shanmata

Adi Shankara (Malayalam: , Sanskrit: , IAST: di akara, pronounced [adi akr]) (788 CE - 821 CE?[2] ), also known as akara Bhagavatpdcrya and di akarcrya, was an Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and Brahman, in which Brahman is viewed as without attributes. He hailed from Kalady of present day Kerala. Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship. His works in Sanskrit, all of which are extant today, concern Shankaracharya with disciples, Painting by Raja Ravi themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita Varma. (Nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on

Adi Shankara


ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic Canon (Brahma Sutra, Principal Upanishads and Bhagavadgita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers some arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism that he was partly familiar with.

LifeTraditional accounts of Adi Shankara's life can be found in the Shankara Vijayams, which are poetic works that contain a mix of biographical and legendary material, written in the epic style. The most important among these biographies are the Mdhavya akara Vijaya (of Mdhava, c. 14th century), the Cidvilsya akara Vijaya (of Cidvilsa, c. between 15th century and 17th century), and the Keraya akara Vijaya (of the Kerala region, extant from c. 17th century).[3] [4]

Adi Guru Shri Gauapdchrya, the grand guru of Shri Adi Shankaracharya and the first historical proponent of Advaita Vedanta, also believed to be the founder of Shri Gaudapadacharya Math

Birth and childhoodShankara was born to Kaippilly Sivaguru Namboodiri and Aryamba Antharjanam in or near Kaladi in central Kerala. According to lore, it was after his parents, who had been childless for many years, prayed at the Vadakkunnathan temple, Thrissur that Sankara was born under the star Thiruvathira.[5] [6] His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's upanayana, the initiation into student-life, was performed at the age of five. As a child, Shankara showed remarkable scholarship, mastering the four Vedas by the age of eight.[7]

The birth place of Adi Shankara at Kalady

SannyasaFrom a young age, Shankara was inclined towards sannyasa, but it was only after much persuasion that his mother finally gave her consent.[8] Shankara then left Kerala and travelled towards North India in search of a guru. On the banks of the Narmada River, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada, the disciple of Gaudapada. When Govinda Bhagavatpada asked Shankara's identity, he replied with an extempore verse that brought out the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Govinda Bhagavatapada was impressed and took Shankara as his disciple.[9] The guru instructed Shankara to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras and propagate the Advaita philosophy. Shankara travelled to

Adi Shankara


Kashi, where a young man named Sanandana, hailing from Chola territory in South India, became his first disciple. According to legend, while on his way to the Vishwanath Temple, Sankara came upon an untouchable accompanied by four dogs. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable replied: "Do you wish that I move my ever lasting tman ("the Self"), or this body made of flesh?" Realizing that the untouchable was none other than god Shiva himself, and his dogs the four Vedas, Shankara prostrated himself before him, composing five shlokas known as Manisha Panchakam.[10] [11]

Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthampa Mandapam, Kalady, Kerala

At Badari he wrote his famous Bhashyas ("commentaries") and Prakarana granthas ("philosophical treatises").[12][13]

Meeting with Mandana MishraOne of the most famous debates of Adi Shankara was with the ritualist Mandana Mishra. Madana Mishra's guru was the famous Mimamsa philosopher, Kumarla Bhaa. Shankara sought a debate with Kumarla Bhaa and met him in Prayag where he had buried himself in a slow burning pyre to repent for sins committed against his guru: Kumarla Bhaa had learned Buddhist philosophy from his Buddhist guru under false pretenses, in order to be able to refute it. Learning anything without the knowledge of one's guru while still under his authority constitutes a sin according to the Vedas.[14] Kumarla Bhaa thus asked Adi Shankara to proceed to Mahimati (known today as Mahishi Bangaon, Saharsa in Bihar)[15] to meet Maana Mira and debate with him instead. After debating for over fifteen days, with Maana Mira's wife Ubhaya Bhrat acting as referee, Maana Mira accepted defeat.[16] Ubhaya Bhrat then challenged Adi Shankara to have a debate with her in order to 'complete' the victory. She asks the questions in "kamasutra" in which sankaracharya has no knowledge since he is a true celibate and sanyasi,So he uses the art of "parakaya pravesa" and his soul joins a dead body of a king.And he acquires all the knowledge of "art of love" from the queen from questionnaire.Finally Ubhaya Bhrat allowed Maana Mira to accept sannyasa with the monastic name Surevarcrya, as per the agreed rules of the debate.[17]

Adi Shankara


Missionary tourAdi Shankara then travelled with his disciples to Maharashtra and Srisailam. In Srisailam, he composed Shivanandalahari, a devotional hymn in praise of Shiva. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam says that when Shankara was about to be sacrificed by a Kapalika, the god Narasimha appeared to save Shankara in response to Padmapada's prayer to him. As a result, Adi Shankara composed the Laksmi-Narasimha stotra.[18] He then travelled to Gokara, the temple of Hari-Shankara and the Mkambika temple at Kollur. At Kollur, he accepted as his disciple a boy believed to be dumb by his parents. He gave him the name, Hastmalakcrya ("one with the amalaka fruit on his palm", i.e., one who has clearly realised the Self). Next, he visited ngeri to establish the rada Pham and made Toakcrya his disciple.[19]

Sharada temple at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri

After this, Adi Shankara began a Dig-vijaya (tour of conquest) for the propagation of the Advaita philosophy by controverting all philosophies opposed to it. He travelled throughout India, from South India to Kashmir and Nepal, preaching to the local populace and debating philosophy with Hindu, Buddhist and other scholars and monks along the way. With the Malayali King Sudhanva as companion, Shankara passed through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha. He then started towards Karnataka where he encountered a band of armed Kapalikas. King Sudhanva, with his Nairs, resisted and defeated the Kapalikas. They safely reached Gokarna where Shankara defeated in debate the Shaiva scholar, Neelakanta. Proceeding to Saurashtra (the ancient Kambhoja)[20] and having visited the shrines of Girnar, Somnath and Prabhasa and explaining the superiority of Vedanta in all these places, he arrived at Dwarka. Bhaa Bhskara of Ujjayini, the proponent of Bhedbeda philosophy, was humbled. All the scholars of Ujjayini (also known as Avanti) accepted Adi Shankara's philosophy. He then defeated the Jainas in philosophical debates at a place called Bahlika. Thereafter, the Acharya established his victory over several philosophers and ascetics in Kamboja (region of North Kashmir), Darada (Dabistan) and many regions situated in the desert and crossing mighty peaks, entered Kashmir. Later, he had an encounter with a tantrik, Navagupta at Kamarupa.[21]

Adi Shankara


Accession to SarvajnapithaAdi Shankara visited Sarvajapha (Sharada Peeth) in Kashmir (now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).[22] The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door (representing South India) had never been opened, indicating that no scholar from South India had entered the Sarvajna Pitha. Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as Mimamsa, Vedanta and other branches of Hindu philosophy; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple.[23] Towards the end of his life, Adi Shankara travelled to the Himalayan area of Kedarnath-Badrinath and attained videha mukti ("freedom from embodiment"). There is a samadhi mandir dedicated to Adi Shankara behind the Kedarnath Statue of Adi Shankara at his Samadhi Mandir, behind Kedarnath temple. However, there are variant traditions on the location of his last days. One Temple, in Kedarnath, India tradition, expounded by Keraliya Shankaravijaya, places his place of death as Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur, Kerala.[24] The followers of the Kanchi kamakoti pitha claim that he ascended the Sarvajapha and attained videha mukti in Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu).



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