Dakshinamnaya Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetham

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Introduction:


Sringeri is the sacred site of the first matha (monastery) established by Sri Adi Sankaracharya, the greatest teacher of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. This little village, housing one of the most important Sankaracharyas of today, is located on the banks of the river Tunga, in the Malnad region of Karnataka, India. Legend has it that drinking the clear water of the Tunga is comparable to a bath in the Ganga (Ganga Snanam, Tunga Panam). According to tradition, when Adi Sankaracharya was walking by the Tunga river, he saw a cobra with a raised hood, providing shelter from the hot sun, to a female frog that was about to spawn. Impressed with the sanctity of the spot where even the natural enemy of the frog had turned protector, he decided to found his first monastery here. Later he established three other mathas at Dwaraka, Puri and Badrinath. He also organized the Dasanami Sannyasi order of ascetics affiliated with these four mathas.

Kigga

Rishyasringa
Linga

Ancient History:
The name Sringeri is the vernacular version of Rishyasringa-giri, meaning hill of Rishyasringa. According to legend, the Rishis Vibhandaka and his son Rishyasringa lived here. Rishyasringa is famous as the Rishi who brought rains to the drought-stricken kingdom of Romapada, after which he married the princess Santa. Lord Rama's father, King Dasaratha, invited Rishyasringa to be the officiating priest at his sacrifice to obtain sons. This legend connects Sringeri to the ancient epic poem, the Ramayana. There is a temple dedicated to Rishyasringa and Santa at Kigga, a few miles from Sringeri. The Sivalinga consecrated in the sanctum has a horn on the head, depicting Rishyasringa Rishi. The ancient site of Rishi Vasishtha's Asrama is also nearby. Thus, it was fitting that Adi Sankaracharya chose this spot to establish his monastery.

The Sringeri Matha:
Adi Sankaracharya is reputed to have stayed for twelve years at Sringeri. Hastamalaka and Totakacharya became his disciples when he was at Sringeri. Padmapada also stayed with him for a while at Sringeri, and he wrote the Pancapadika here. Sankara's disciples Adi Sankaracharya chose Suresvaracharya, who wrote works like Naishkarmayasiddhi, as the first head of the Sringeri matha. He also founded a temple for Sarada, the Goddess of all learning, who symbolizes Brahmavidya. The tradition of Advaita Vedanta was maintained at this matha by such illustrious philosophers and religious leaders as Nityabodhaghana, Jnanaghana, Jnanagiri etc. In the centuries following the time of Sri Adi Sankaracharya, the successors to the title came to be widely revered as Jagadgurus - gurus of the universe. In the 13th century AD, Sri Vidyatirtha, the famous tapasvi, was the presiding Jagadguru of Sringeri. Bharati Tirtha and Vidyaranya, the best-known authors in post-Sankaran Advaita Vedanta were his disciples.

Harihara and Bukka, the founders of the Vijayanagar empire, drew inspiration from Swami Vidyaranya. When Harihara established his dynasty in Hampi in the early 14th century, a period of great cultural and religious revival was initiated in southern India. Under the leadership of Sri Vidyaranya and his successors, various texts on the Vedas, philosophy, grammar and music were written. The commentaries to the four Vedas by Sayana and Madhava date to the early Vijayanagar period. The Vijayanagar emperors and the local chieftains gifted vast amounts of land revenue and endowments to the matha, in order to carry out its dharmic activities. Thus, during the time of Sri Vidyaranya and his immediate successors, the Sringeri matha grew from a small cluster of forest hermitages into a great Mahasamsthanam. While the matha possesses all the external signs of such historical pomp and glory, the Sankaracharyas themselves remain unaffected by it all. They live in the Narasimhavana forest in simple thatched cottages. They conduct their daily pujas and receive visitors in the Saccidananda Vilas building on the banks of the Tunga river.

The Guru Parampara:
The Sringeri matha has had the good fortune of having an unbroken line of succession from Adi Sankaracharya onwards. The successive heads of the matha are also known as Sankaracharyas, in honour of Adi Sankaracharya, the founder of the matha. Right from the beginning, the Sankaracharyas have taken great care to bestow their title only on the most suitable disciple, irrespective of ethnic background. Thus, over the centuries, the Sankaracharyas have come not only from the southern regions of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka, but also places like Gujarat, Bengal etc. In addition to being great philosophers who wrote voluminous treatises, the Sankaracharyas have been among the most eminent sannyasis in the Hindu traditions. The tradition of Sanskrit and Vedic learning, including Mimamsa and Vedanta, has been preserved at Sringeri for the 12 centuries since Adi Sankaracharya. The Sringeri Sankaracharya is generally considered to be the head of the dasanami sampradaya of advaita sannyasins. Being sannyasis and at the same time heads of a prosperous matha, the Sringeri Jagadgurus have set a shining example for all sannyasis. They are exemplary teachers and personally teach the advanced students of Mimamsa and Vedanta at the matha. They also go on long tours over the length and breadth of India, in accordance with the tradition that a sannyasi is a parivrajaka - a peripatetic monk. They set the standard of proper monastic life in modern times, adapting to various modern social and technological changes, but holding aloft the pristine ideals of detachment, learning, meditation and sannyasa. Their example reminds us of how a Yajnavalkya or a king Janaka might have lived in ancient times.

The list of titles (birudavali) of the Sankaracharyas of Sringeri is long and impressive. The seal of the Matha still names Vidyatirtha, also known as Vidyasankara, the guru of Vidyaranya, because of the tradition that it is Sri Vidyatirtha who guides the affairs of the Matha even today. There is a remarkable temple built over the Sivalinga consecrating the samadhi of Sri Vidyatirtha.

As the Dakshinamnaya matha, Sringeri is associated with Tungabhadra Tirtha, Rameswara Kshetra, Adi Varaha as the deity, Goddess Saradamba as Sakti, and the Yajur Veda with its Mahavakya, Aham Brahmasmi. The river Tunga flows by Sringeri, and the temple of Sarada is at Sringeri itself. Rameswara Kshetra is in coastal Tamil Nadu, and the temple of Adi Varaha is in Kallidaikurichi, in the interior of Tamil Nadu.

Recent History:
The presiding Sankaracharya at Sringeri is Swami Bharati Tirtha (1989 - present), whose guru was Swami Abhinava Vidyatirtha (1954 - 1989). Swami Chandrasekhara Bharati, the world-renowned Jivanmukta, was the Sankaracharya from 1912 to 1954. He wrote a masterly commentary to Vivekachudamani, a celebrated work of Adi Sankara. His guru, Swami Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Narasimha Bharati, who was the Sankaracharya of Sringeri from 1878 to 1912, rediscovered Kaladi, Adi Sankaracharya's birth-place. He also arranged for the publication of all the works of Adi Sankaracharya, through the Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam. This multi-volume edition, called Sankara Granthavali, is considered by scholars to be an authoritative collection of the traditional works of Sankaracharya. The collection has been reprinted recently by Samata Books, Madras, with the blessings of Swami Abhinava Vidyatirtha. The Sringeri Peetham has been running many Vedic schools in southern India. The recently started Veda Vedanta Gurukula Mahavidyalaya is the latest in the efforts of the Sringeri Acharyas to preserve Vedic knowledge. Thus, the Sringeri Sarada Peetham has continued to be one of the most important centres of traditional Vedic learning and Advaita Vedanta over the ages.

Recently, the Sringeri Sarada Peetham has extended its dharmic activities to the United States of America, through the Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation, USA. Plans have been made to build a beautiful temple for Goddess Sarada in a 35 acre site in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania, and also publish Tattvaloka, the Sringeri Matha's English language bimonthly magazine as an international publication. The Foundation also conducted the massive Vedic rite, the Atirudra Mahayagnam, for the first time in the United States, between August 22 and September 1, 1997.