page_title: Matha
section_title: Advaita Mathas
hierarchical_section_title: Matha / Mathas in Hindu traditions / Advaita Mathas
caption_attribution_description: English: Shri Sharada Peetham Dwarka, the temple features five deities to be same as Shiva, some reliefs show fused images of deities such as Shivhari, which is half Shiva half Vishnu. The temple also features an extensive library dedicated to the works of Adi Shankara.
context_page_description: A matha, also written as math, matha or mutt, is a Sanskrit word that means "institute or college", and it also refers to a monastery in Hinduism.
  Monastic life, for spiritual studies or the pursuit of moksha traces it roots to the 1st millennium BCE, in the Vedic tradition. The earliest Hindu monasteries are indirectly inferred to be from the centuries around the start of the common era, based on the existence of Sannyasa Upanishads with strongly Advaita Vedanta content. The matha tradition in Hinduism was likely well established in the second half of 1st millennium CE, as is evidenced by archeological and epigraphical evidence.
  Mathas grew over time, with the most famous and still surviving centers of Vedanta studies being those started by Adi Shankara. Other major and influential mathas belong to various schools of Hindu philosophy, such as those of Vaishnavism and Shaivism. The monastery host and feed students, sannyasis, gurus and are led by Acharyas. These monasteries are sometimes attached to Hindu temples and have their codes of conduct, initiation and election ceremonies.
context_section_description: Shankara is regarded as the founder of the most famous monasteries in Hinduism. These have hosted the Daśanāmi Sampradāya under four Maṭhas, with the headquarters at Dwarka in the West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri in the South and Badrinath in the North. Each math was headed by one of his  disciples, called Shankaracharya, who each independently continued the Advaita Vedanta Sampradaya. The ten Shankara-linked Advaita monastic orders are distributed as follows: Bharati, Puri and Saraswati at Sringeri, Aranya and Vana at Puri, Tirtha and Ashrama at Dwarka, and Giri, Parvata and Sagara at Badrinath.
  The mathas which Shankara built exist until today, and continue the teachings and influence of Shankara.
  The table below gives an overview of the four largest Advaita Mathas founded by Adi Shankara, and their details. However, evidence suggests that Shankara established more mathas locally for Vedanta studies and its propagation, states Hartmut Scharfe, such as the "four mathas in the city of Trichur alone, that were headed by Trotaka, Sureshvara, Hastamalaka and Padmapada".
caption: An Advaita Vedanta matha started by Adi Shankara next to the Dwarka temple in Gujarat.
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