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Adi Shankara (Malayalam: ആദി ശങ്കരന്‍, Devanāgarī: आदि शङ्कर, Ādi Śaṅkara, IPA: ); also known as Ādi Śaṅkarācārya ("the first Shankara in his lineage") and Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya ("the teacher at the feet of God"), c. 788 – 820 CE, was the first philosopher to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and God, in which God is viewed as simultaneously personal and attributeless. In the Smārta tradition, Adi Shankara is regarded as an incarnation of Shiva.

Adi Shankara toured India with the purpose of propagating his teachings through discourses and debates with other philosophers. He founded four mathas ("abbeys") which played a key role in the historical development and spread of Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara was the founder of the Dashanami monastic order and the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit, all of which are extant today, concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita (Sanskrit, "Non-dualism"). Adi Shankara quotes extensively from the Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures in forming his teachings. He also includes arguments against opposing schools of thought like Samkhya and Buddhism in his works.

Life

The traditional source for accounts of Adi Shankara's life are the Shankara Vijayams, ("Victory of Shankara"), which are poetic works that contain biographical material written in the epic style of legend. The most important among these biographies are the Mādhavīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Mādhava, c. 14th century), the Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Cidvilāsa, c. between 15th century and 17th century), and the Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of the Kerala region, extant from c. 17th century). According to these texts, Adi Shankara was born in Kalady, a village in Kerala, India, to a Namboothiri brahmin couple, Shivaguru and Aryamba and lived for thirty two years.

Birth and childhood

Adi Shankara's parents were childless for many years. They prayed at the Vadakkunnathan temple (also known as Vrishachala) in Thrissur, Kerala, for the birth of a child. Legend has it that Shiva appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams, and offered them a choice: a mediocre son who would live a long life, or an extraordinary son who would not live long. Both the parents chose the latter; thus a son was born to them. He was named Shankara (Sanskrit, "bestower of happiness"), in honour of Shiva (one of whose epithets is Shankara).

His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's upanayanaṃ, 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. Following the customs of those days, Shankara studied and lived at the home of his teacher. It was customary for students and men of learning to receive Bhikṣā ("alms") from the laity; on one occasion, while accepting Bhikṣā, Shankara came upon a woman who had only a single dried amalaka fruit to eat. Rather than consuming this last bit of food herself, the pious lady gave away the fruit to Shankara as Bhikṣā. Moved by her piety, Shankara composed the Kanakadhārā Stotram on the spot. Legend has it that on completion of the stotra, golden amalaka fruits were showered upon the woman by Lakṣmi, the Goddess of wealth.

Sannyasa

From a young age, Shankara was attracted to sannyasa ("monastic life"). His mother was against his becoming a monk, and refused him formal permission. However, once when Shankara was bathing in the Purna River near his house, a crocodile gripped his leg and began to drag him into the water. Only his mother was nearby, and it proved impossible for her to rescue him. Shankara asked his mother to give him permission to renounce the world then and there and so die a monk.In the version as described by the Mahaperiyaval of Kanchi, Shankaracharya seeks his mothers permission to enter sanyasa asrama by arguing that entering into sanyasa would mean another birth to him by which he could escape death by the attacking crocodile which was destined for that birth. At the end of her wits, his mother agreed. Shankara immediately recited the mantras that made a renunciate of him. The crocodile released him and swam away. Shankara emerged unscathed from the water.

With the permission of his mother, Shankara 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. Adi Shankara was commissioned by his Guru to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras and propagate Advaita Vedanta. The Madhavīya Shankaravijaya states that Adi Shankara calmed a flood from the Reva River by placing his kamaṇḍalu ("water pot") in the path of the raging water, thus saving his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpada, who was engaged in Samādhi ("meditation") in a cave nearby.

On his mission to spread the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, Adi Shankara travelled to Kashi, where a young man named Sanandana from Choladesha in South India, became his first disciple. In Kashi, Adi Shankara was on his way to the Vishwanath Temple, when he came upon an untouchable with four dogs. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable replied: "Do you wish that I move my ever lasting Ātman ("the Self"), or this body made of food?" Understanding that the untouchable was none other than god Shiva, and his dogs the four Vedas, Shankara prostrated himself before him, composing five shlokas known as Manisha Panchakam.

On reaching Badari in the Himalayas, he wrote the famous Bhashyas ("commentaries") and Prakarana granthas ("philosophical treatises"). Afterwards he taught these commentaries to his disciples. Some, like Sanandana, were quick to grasp the essence; the other disciples thus became jealous of Sanandana. In order to convince the others of Sanandana's inherent superiority, Adi Shankara summoned Sanandana from one bank of the Ganga River, while he was on the opposite bank. Sanandana crossed the river by walking on the lotuses that were brought out wherever he placed his foot. Adi Shankara was greatly impressed by his disciple and gave him the name Padmapāda ("lotus-footed one"). The sage, Vedavyāsa, visited Adi Shankara in the guise of an old brāhmaṇa. Adi Shankara debated with the brāhmaṇa for over eight days when at last, Vyasa revealed his real identity and blessed Adi Shankara.

Meeting with Mandana Mishra

One of the most famous debates of Adi Shankara was with the ritualist Mandana Mishra. Mandana Mishra's Guru was the famous Mimamsa philosopher, Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa. Shankara sought a debate with Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa and met him in Prayag where he had buried himself in a slow burning pyre to repent for sins committed against his Guru: Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa had learnt Buddhist philosophy incognito from him in order to be able to refute it. This constitutes a sin according to the Vedas. Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa thus asked Adi Shankara to proceed to Mahiṣmati (known today as Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh) to meet Mandana Mishra and debate with him instead.

Adi Shankara had a famous debate with Mandana Mishra in which the wife of Mandana Mishra, Ubhaya Bhāratī, was the referee. After debating for over fifteen days, Mandana Mishra accepted defeat. Ubhaya Bhāratī then challenged Adi Shankara to have a debate with her in order to 'complete' the victory. This debate was to be on the subject of kāmaśāstra ("science of sex-love"). But Adi Shankara, being a sannyasi, had no knowledge of this subject; thus, after requesting for some time before entering into this fresh debate, he entered the body of a king by his yogic powers and acquired the knowledge of kāmaśāstra. Later, however, Ubhaya Bhāratī declined to debate with him and allowed Mandana Mishra to accept sannyasa with the monastic name, Sureśvarācārya as per the agreed rules of the debate.

Dig-vijaya

Adi Shankara then travelled with his disciples to Maharashtra and Srisailam. In Srisailam, he composed Shivanandalahari, a devotional hymn to Shiva. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam says that when Shankara was about to be sacrificed by a Kapalika, the god Narasimha appeared to save Shankara on Padmapada's prayer to him. So Adi Shankara composed the Laksmi-Narasimha stotra. He then travelled to Gokarṇa, the temple of Hari-Shankara and the Mūkambika temple at Kollur. At Kollur he accepted a boy believed to be dumb by his parents, as his disciple. He gave him the name, Hastāmalakācārya ("one with the amalaka fruit on his palm", i.e., one who has clearly realised the Self). Next, he visited Śṛngeri to establish the Śārada Pīṭham and made Toṭakācārya his disciple.

After this, Adi Shankara began a Dig-vijaya ("missionary tour") for the propagation of the Advaita philosophy by controverting all philosophies opposed to it. 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 army, resisted and defeated the Kapalikas. They safely reached Gokarna where Shankara defeated in debate the Shaiva scholar, Neelakanta.

Proceeding to the west in Dwarka, Shankara defeated the Vaiṣṇavas in debate. Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara of Ujjayini, the proponent of Bhedābeda philosophy, was humbled. All the scholars of Ujjayini (also known as Avanti) accepted Adi Shankara's philosophy. He then defeated the Jainas at a place called Bahlika. Later, he had an encounter with a tantrik, Navagupta at Kamarupa. Navagupta pretended to have become a disciple, but later caused Adi Shankara to develop a rectal fistula. However, Adi Shankara was soon cured and Navagupta later died of the same disease.

Adi Shankara thus travelled throughout India, from the South to Kashmir and Nepal, preaching to the local populace and debating philosophy with Hindu, Buddhist and other scholars and monks along the way.

Accession to Sarvajnapitha

Adi Shankara visited Sarvajñapīṭha in Kashmir (now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). 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. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states that Goddess Saraswati ("goddess of knowledge and all literary arts") herself proclaimed the unquestioned scholarly triumph of Adi Shankara on this occasion.

Shankara then travelled to Kedarnath and attained videha mukti ("final liberation") at the age of thirty two. However, there are variant traditions on the location of his last days. The Kanchi matha followers believe he achieved videha mukti in Kanchi. Another tradition expounded by Keraliya Shankaravijaya places his place of death as Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur, Kerala.

Dates

Modern scholarship is agreed on the 788 – 820 CE date, though it has proved impossible to reach agreement on Adi Shankara's precise dates of birth or death.<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/dating-Sankara.html | title = Determining

1. ^ There is some debate regarding this issue. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. xv–xxiv. gives this date. See also dates Cite error: The named reference "Dates" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. Adi means "the first"; the heads of a few Hindu mathas are also given the title Shankaracharya; Acharya means "teacher"
3. Vidyasankar, S. "The Sankaravijaya literature". Retrieved 2006-08-23.
4. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. viii.
5. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. p. 14.
6. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. p. 17.
7. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 28–29.
8. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 40–50.
9. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 51–56.
10. Adi Shankara. "Manisha Panchakam". Retrieved 2006-08-04.
11. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 57–62.
12. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 62–63.
13. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 70–73.
14. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 77–80.
15. "Pilgrimages- Maheshwar". Retrieved 2006-06-26.
16. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 81–104.
17. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 117–129.
18. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 130–135.
19. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 136–150.
20. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 160–185.
21. "Photos of Sharada Temple (Sarvajna Pitha), Sharda, PoK". Retrieved 2006-06-26.
22. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. 186–195.
23. Tapasyananda, Swami (2002). Sankara-Dig-Vijaya. pp. xxv–xxxv.