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Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara was likely a relatively unknown figure during his lifetime, overshadowed for centuries by his older contemporary Mandana Mishra, and absent from Buddhist, Jain, or Hindu sources until the eleventh century. While modern tradition reveres him as the most important Indian philosopher, the historical reality suggests a scholar who was probably Vaishnava-oriented and whose true impact lies in the popular perception of him as a heroic religious leader who re-established traditional Hinduism. Reliable information on his actual life is scant, and the historical influence of his works on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned by scholars who note that until the tenth century, Shankara was eclipsed by Mandana Mishra, the major representative of Advaita Vedanta. The legendary Shankara was created in the fourteenth century, centuries after his death, when the Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the emperors of the Vijayanagara Empire and shifted their allegiance from Advaitic Agamic Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy. This transformation turned a historical figure into a divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through a universal conquest across India, a narrative constructed to rally values and expand cultural influence during a period of political instability following the Gupta dynasty.
The Mythic Conquest
The surviving biographies of Adi Shankara are not historical documents but politically motivated hagiographies written several centuries after his death, filled with legends and improbable events that create the popular image of a religious leader who harmonized major Hindu traditions. These texts, known as Shankara Vijaya, describe a boy born in the southern Indian state of Kerala in a village named Kaladi, whose father died while he was very young, leading to a delayed initiation into student-life. A story found in every hagiography describes Shankara at age eight going to a river with his mother, Sivataraka, to bathe, where he is caught by a crocodile. He calls out to his mother to give him permission to become a Sannyasin, or else the crocodile will kill him, and she agrees, freeing him to leave his home for education. He reaches a Saivite sanctuary along a river in a north-central state of India and becomes the disciple of a teacher named Govinda Bhagavatpada, though the stories diverge in details about their first meeting and what happened later. The hagiographies credit him with starting several monasteries and traveling widely within India from Gujarat to Bengal, participating in public philosophical debates with different orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy as well as heterodox traditions such as Buddhists, Jains, Arhatas, Saugatas, and Charvakas.
The Systematic Synthesizer
Common questions
When was Adi Shankara born and where did he live?
Adi Shankara was born in the village of Kaladi in the southern Indian state of Kerala. He died in the 8th century, though the exact date of his death is not specified in the text.
Who was Mandana Mishra and how did he influence Adi Shankara?
Mandana Mishra was a Mimamsa scholar and follower of Kumarila who wrote the seminal text Brahma-siddhi. He overshadowed Adi Shankara for centuries, and his student Vachaspati Mishra later harmonized Shankara's thought with Mandana Mishra's ideas.
When was the legend of Adi Shankara created and by whom?
The legendary figure of Adi Shankara was created in the fourteenth century by the Sringeri matha. This transformation occurred when the matha received patronage from the emperors of the Vijayanagara Empire and shifted their allegiance to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy.
What texts are authentically attributed to Adi Shankara?
Works known to have been written by Adi Shankara himself include the Brahmasutrabhasya, commentaries on ten principal Upanishads, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upadesasahasri. The commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapadas Madukya-karika has been questioned by scholars.
Why was Adi Shankara accused of being a crypto-Buddhist?
Hindu Vaishnava opponents like Ramanuja and Bhaskara accused Adi Shankara of being a crypto-Buddhist because his philosophy shows strong similarities with Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. These critics argued that his views on Atman, Anatta, and Brahman undermined theistic Bhakti devotionalism.
When were the statues of Adi Shankara unveiled in Madhya Pradesh and Kedarnath?
A 108-foot statue of Adi Shankara was unveiled near Omkareshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh on the 21st of September 2023. Another 12-foot statue at Kedarnath was unveiled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 5th of November 2019.
For a couple of centuries after his death, Shankara was overshadowed by Mandana Mishra, a Mimamsa scholar and follower of Kumarila who wrote a seminal text on Advaita called the Brahma-siddhi, which became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error. Mandana Mishra's student Vachaspati Mishra wrote the Bhamati, a commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, and the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on Mandana Mishra's Brahma-siddhi, with his thought mainly inspired by Mandana Mishra and harmonizing Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Mishra. The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach, seeing the Jiva as the source of avidya and yogic practice and contemplation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the later Advaita Vedanta tradition incorporated Mandana Mishra into the Shankara-fold by identifying him with Sureśvara, believing that Mandana Mishra became a disciple of Shankara after a public debate which Shankara won. This historical reality contrasts sharply with the hagiographic narrative of a young prodigy defeating all opponents, revealing that the true influence of Shankara was mediated through the work of his contemporaries and their successors.
The fame of
The Debate of Centuries
Adi Shankara was established in the fourteenth century when Advaitins in the Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court and tried to convert others to their sect, creating legends to turn Shankara into a divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through a universal conquest. Vidyaranya, also known as Madhava, was the twelfth Jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1380 to 1386 and a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire who inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India, possibly in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate. Vidyaranya and his brothers wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion more accessible, and Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support to establish monasteries to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta. In his doxography Sarvadarśanasańgraha, Vidyaranya presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all darsanas, presenting the other darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be the most inclusive system, while the Vaishnava traditions of
The Political Rebirth
Dvaita and Visishtadvaita were not classified as Vedanta and placed just above Buddhism and Jainism.
Over three hundred texts are attributed to Adi Shankara, including commentaries, introductory topical expositions, and poetry, but most of these are likely to have been written by admirers, or pretenders, or scholars with an eponymous name. Works known to have been written by Shankara himself are the Brahmasutrabhasya, his commentaries on ten principal Upanishads, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upadesasahasri, though the authenticity of the commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapadas Madukya-karika has been questioned. His authentic works present a harmonizing reading of the shastras, with liberating knowledge of the self at its core, synthesizing the inherited Advaita Vedanta teachings of his time, and his commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the oldest surviving. Shankara also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work, and among the Stotra, the Dakshinamurti Stotra, the Mohamudgara Stotra, the Shivanandalahari, and the Carpata-panjarika are likely to be authentic, while commentaries on later Upanishads such as the Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, and Kaivalya Upanishad are rejected by scholars to be his works.
Shankara's Advaita shows influences from Mahayana Buddhism, despite his
The Authentic Voice
critiques, and Hindu Vaishnava opponents have even accused Shankara of being a crypto-Buddhist, a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta, and Brahman. According to both Loy and Jayatilleke, more differences can be discerned, with the qualification of crypto-Buddhist being rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta, and Brahman. Ramanuja, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, accused Adi Shankara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a crypto-Buddhist, and someone who was undermining theistic Bhakti devotionalism, while the non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda Vedanta tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists. Despite Shankara's criticism of certain schools of Mahayana Buddhism, his philosophy shows strong similarities with the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy which he attacks, and some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its Maya and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, neo-Vedantins and western Orientalists elevated Advaita Vedanta
The Crypto-Buddhist Accusation
as the connecting theological thread that united Hinduism into a single religious tradition, and became an iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture, despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. A 108-foot statue of Adi Shankara was unveiled near Omkareshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh to commemorate his life and work on the 21st of September 2023, and another 12-foot statue at Kedarnath was unveiled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 5th of November 2019, made of chlorite schist and weighing 35 tonnes. The historical Shankara was probably relatively unknown and Vaishnava-oriented, and his true impact lies in the popular perception of him as a heroic religious leader who re-established traditional Hinduism, a perception that has been solidified by the creation of the Smarta tradition and the organization of the Dashanami monastic order, with the title of Shankaracharya, used by heads of certain monasteries in India, derived from his name.