The commentaries on -
Brahma Sūtras
Bhagavad-Gītā
Upaniṣads
and his non-commentarial work - Upadeśasāhasri)
When did he live?
Where was he born?
What institutions did he establish?
Where did he attain samAdhi
There is no consensus on any of these questions except perhaps Question 1
"When did he live"?
Western Indologists provide the dates of 788 CE to 820 CE
But this is not supported by any of the "traditional" maThas or even the traditional "biographies"
That begs the question - how was this date arrived at?
Which would place him in the early 800s
dayAvatyA dattAm drAvidasisurAsvAdya tava yat
kavInAm praud’AnAm ajani kamanIya: kava yithA
Since Sambandhar lived in the middle of 7th century, placing Sankara in the late 8th / early 9th century gains credence
"nidhi nAgebha vahnyabde vibhave shankarodayah
......"
Here the first verse taken in revere gives 3889 of Kali era as Shankara's birth date - which corresponds to 788 CE.
So kAnchi mutt holds that 788 CE corresponds to this Abhinava Shankara - born in Chidambaram not Kerala!
Likely the Cambodian inscription too refers to this Chidambaram-born Shankara of Kanchi!
And perhaps the author of Saundarya-lahiri too is this Abhinava Shankara of Tamil country. Not Adi Shankara
As per the Sringeri maTha records, Adi Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of VIkramAditya in Kaladi, Kerala
Now which VikramAditya is this?
But given Shankara's location in the peninsula, the current view of the maTha is that this refers to Chalukya king Vikramaditya I of Badami
This would also mean the Abhinava Shankara of kAnchi is only about 120 years younger than Adi Shankara of Kaladi
Dharmakirti, a southern Buddhist, is known to have worked in Nalanda in 7th cen
So that makes situating Adi Shankara in late 7th cen plausible
Since kumArIla quotes kAlidasa (who is placed in early 5th century), that makes the 7th cen date of Shankara plausible, and strongly militates against pre 5th cen dates
As per the Kanchi Kamakoti list, Shankara occupied the seat of the mutt between 480 BCE to 477 BCE)
The scholar Ullur Parameswara Iyer, himself a devout Smartha, had no qualms in saying that most of these Math lists have been formulated as late as 16th century CE!!
They are not consistent with the writings of Shankara. Shankara appears v well abreast with Buddhist philosophy, which was not existent in a mature form as early as 5th cen BCE!
Moreover hagiographies situate Shankara in Kerala (almost without exception).
At that time period (5th cen BCE), Aryanization of the south was still v incipient.
5th cen BCE seems too early for a figure that mature to be situated in the deep-south
Adi Shankara was indeed born in Kaladi circa 7th cen
Possibly he was associated with the maTha in Sringeri
But there was also a different "Abhinava" Shankara of kAnchi a century later, for whom the 788 CE date makes more sense
Kaladi seems to be the unanimous choice. Held by the major "biographies" including the most celebrated work of Madhava-Vidyaranya (of 14th century)
But this Digvijaya is likely referring to Abhinava Shankara of Kanchi was was perhaps a native of Chidambaram
Not Adi Shankara
"What are the maThas established by Shankara?"
Somehow the popular perception is that he established 4 maThas
Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Badri
Kanchi is not a part of the quartet
But one is not sure why this 4-Math theory is popular
But this work is likely post 16th century, and is not considered as a canonical work even within Digvijaya literature, nor is it the oldest extant Digvijaya
Instead it says - Shankara sent several disciples in his last days to "preach the doctrine at Sringa-giri and other centres"
So this begs the question where does this four maTha view come from?
It surely cannot be purely because of the mention of it in Chidvilasa's Digvijaya
The Dashanami SampradAya's origins are shrounded in the mists of time, so we are not v clear why they hold such a view
On where he attained samAdhi
The view in mAdhava-Vidyaranya's Digvijaya is that it occurred at Kedarnath
As per TS Narayana Sastri, the Kanchi theory is backed by one of the oldest Digvijayas - Brihat Shankara VIjaya
Brihat Shankara Digvijaya is not extant, though Narayana Sastri claimed to have mutilated copy of it
Anantanandagiri's Digvijaya possibly discusses Abhinava Shankara (as we've already discussed) who was indeed from Kanchi
One may lean towards Kedarnath, if one goes strictly by the mAdhaviya Shankara vijaya - the most impressive of all Digvijayas
But there is nothing else to back it (in terms of inscriptions or references outside of Digvijaya literature)
On what we know about Adi Shankara -
1. Early dates pre 5th cen AD are v implausible and can be ruled out
2. The Shankara born 788 CE as per western scholars is possibly Abhinava Shankara of Chidambaram and later Kanchi
But he is more likely to have lived in 7th century (as attested by Sringeri maTha's reference to the Chalukyan Vikramaditya), than in early 9th century
At best one can say Sringeri is likelier to have some association with him.
Kanchi - was perhaps associated with Abhinava Shankara, not Adi Shankara
But much of the later poetic work (e.g.Saundaryalahari) are possibly the work of the Kanchi-based Abhinava Shankara
Though this will likely trigger many people
End of thread!
I meant to say there is no consensus on answer to any question , except perhaps Question 2
Not Question 1.
The thread is greatly influenced by the introduction to Madhaviya Shankara Vijaya written by Swami Tapasyananda of RK Mission