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16/01/24 06:49 AM IST

Shankaracharyas & Adi Shankara

In News
  • The four shankaracharyas have said that they will not attend the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
Shankaracharyas
  • Shankaracharya, literally ‘teacher of the way of Shankara’, is a religious title used by the heads of the four cardinal mathas or peeths believed to have been established by Adi Shankara (c 788 CE-820 CE).
  • According to tradition, they are religious teachers who belong to a line of teachers going back all the way to Adi Shankara himself.
  • However, there is little historical evidence for the existence of these mathas prior to the 14th century CE, when the Vijayanagara kingdom began to patronise the Sringeri matha.
  • These mathas comprise religious shrines and temples, as well as libraries and residences. They are fairly complex and spread-out organisations that are geared towards preserving and furthering Shankara’s tradition.
Adi Shankara
  • According to the most popular versions of Adi Shankara’s life-story, he was born in Kalady village on the bank of the River Periyar in what is today Kerala’s Ernakulam district.
  • According to a popular legend, a crocodile caught hold of the young Shankara, and told his mother that it would let him go only if she allowed him to take sanyas. After she reluctantly agreed, Shankara swam ashore — and subsequently left home and became a sanyasi (ascetic).
  • From Kanchi in Tamil Nadu to Kamrup in Assam, from Kashmir and the Kedar and Badri dhams in the Himalayas to Kashi (Varanasi) on the bank of the Ganga and Puri on the Bay of Bengal, Adi Shankara is said to have traversed the length and breadth of the Indian landmass preaching Advaita Vedanta.
  • He is also popularly identified as the author of 116 works, including celebrated commentaries (or bhashyas) on 10 Upanishads, the Brahmasutra, and the Bhagavad Gita.
Advaita Vedanta
  • Shankara is most associated with Advaita Vedanta, a school of Hindu philosophy and spiritual discipline.
  • Advaita Vedanta articulates an ontological position of radical nondualism — it posits that all that we perceive is ultimately illusory (maya), and that the principle of brahman (not to be confused with the caste Brahmin) is the only true reality of all things, transcending empirical plurality.
  • The fundamental thrust of Advaita Vedanta lies in the unity of atman or individual consciousness, and brahman or the ultimate reality.
Legacy of Shankara
  • Shankara’s legacy today transcends his contributions to metaphysics and theology.
  • His travels across the subcontinent have often been interpreted as a near nationalistic project where faith, philosophy and geography are yoked together to imagine a Hindu India which transcended the political boundaries of his time.
  • And his four cardinal mathas, located in the North and South, East and West of India, are seen as the ultimate examples of this project. His mathas are thus also seen as keepers of Hindu faith and traditions.
Source- Indian Express

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