Shankaracharya

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Shankaracharya, (IAST: Śankarāchārya) is a commonly used title of heads of maţhas (monasteries) in the Advaita tradition. The title derives from Śankara of Kaladi, a theologian of Hinduism, who established four maţhas in the four regions of India.

As the first historically recognized teacher in the lineage, Śankara is also called Ādi Śankara (the first Śankara). The four institutions traditionally said to have been established by Ādi Śankara are;

• the Uttarāmnāya matha, or northern matha at Joshimath
• the Pūrvāmnāya matha or eastern matha, the Govardhana matha, at Puri
• the Dakshināmnāya matha, or the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, the southern matha, at Shringeri
• the Paśchimāmnāya matha, or the Dwaraka Pitha, the western matha, at Dwarka .

The heads of these four institutions are considered the principal Shankaracharyas in India today. Kanchi matha claims that Adi Shankara established it as the Sarvagnya Peetha in a position of supremacy over the other mathas of the subcontinent, before his samadi. However this claim is disputed by the other four Peethams. In addition, the heads of the Sumeru matha in Varanasi, the Karavir matha in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, the Sankarananda matha in Puri, Orissa and other institutions are also referred to as Shankaracharyas. There are more than 100 such Shankaracharyas in India today.