Surf Wiki
Save to docs
society/religion

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Shankaracharya

Religious title in the Advaita tradition

Shankaracharya
Summary

Religious title in the Advaita tradition

Adi shankara
Adi Shankaracharya with his four disciples - [[Padmapadacharya]], [[Sureshwaracharya]], [[Hastamalakacharya]] and [[Totakacharya]].

Shankaracharya (, , "Shankara-acharya") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi Shankara; teachers from the successive line of teachers retrospectively dated back to him are known as Shankaracharyas.

Etymology

The word Shankaracharya is composed of two parts, Shankara and Acharya. Acharya is a Sanskrit word meaning "teacher", so Shankaracharya means "teacher of the way of Shankara".

Establishment of the tradition

Adi Shankara, known as Adi Shankaracharya, set up four monasteries known as Mathas or Peethams, in the North, South, East and West of India, to be administered by realised men who would be known as Shankaracharyas. They would take on the role of teacher and could be consulted by anyone with sincere queries of a spiritual nature and they would guide the humanity in times of trouble and provide solace. Another monastery Kanchi Kamkoti Peetham in south India also derives its establishment and tradition to Adi Shankara. The table below gives an overview of the four main Shankaracharya Amnaya Mathas reputedly founded by Adi Shankara, and their details.

Shishya
(lineage)Direction[](matha)VedaPresent ShankaracharyaEastSouthWestNorth
Rig VedaBhogavalaSwami Nischalananda Saraswati
Yajur VedaBhurivalaSri Bharati Tirtha
Sama VedaKitavalatitle=Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati's successors: TWO Shankaracharyas of two different Peeths now - DETAILS hereurl=https://zeenews.india.com/india/swami-swaroopanand-saraswati-s-successors-two-shankaracharyas-of-two-different-peeths-now-details-here-2509089.htmlaccess-date=2023-05-06website=Zee Newslanguage=en}}
Atharva VedaNandavalaSwami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati (disputed)

References

References

  1. Snow, Michael J.. (October 2018). "Mindful philosophy".
  2. Waite, Dennis, 1948-. (2010). "The book of one : the ancient wisdom of Advaita". O Books.
  3. Barrett, David V.. (2001). "The new believers : a survey of sects, cults, and alternative religions". Cassell.
  4. "Adi Shankara's four Amnaya Peethams".
  5. (2026-01-22). "India has four Shankaracharyas. Here's who they are and what they do".
  6. "Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati's successors: TWO Shankaracharyas of two different Peeths now - DETAILS here".
  7. ANI. (2022-10-15). "SC stops the coronation of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, next hearing on October 18".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

titles-and-occupations-in-hinduism religious-leadership-roles shankaracharyas
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Shankaracharya — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report