page_title: Matha
section_title: Sri Vaishnava Mathas
hierarchical_section_title: Matha / Mathas in Hindu traditions / Vaishnavism / Sri Vaishnava Mathas
caption_attribution_description: English: Parakala Mutt of Mysore - as it stands today
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: Ramanuja, the Sri Vaishnavism philosopher, studied at an Advaita Vedanta monastery with Yadava Prakasha before disagreeing with Advaita idealism, and launching his Vishishtadvaita (qualified Advaita) philosophy. Ramanuja was nominated as the leader of the Srirangam matha, after the death of Yamunacharya, though they never met. Along with his philosophy, Ramanuja is famous for his organizational skills and the lasting institutional reforms he introduced at Srirangam paralleling those at Advaita monasteries of his time. He also travelled and founded many Sri Vaishnavism mathas across India. The Sri Vaishnavism tradition believes that Ramanuja started 700 mathas, but historical evidence suggests several of these were started later.
  The Sri Vaishnavism mathas over time, subdivided into two, those with Tenkalai (southern) tradition and Vadakalai (northern) tradition of Sri Vaishnavism. The Tenkalai-associated mathas are headquartered at Srirangam, while Vadakalai mathas are associated with Kanchipuram. Both these traditions have from 10th-century onwards considered the function of mathas to include feeding the poor and devotees who visit, hosting marriages and community festivals, farming temple lands and flower gardens as a source for food and worship ingredients, being open to pilgrims as rest houses, and this philanthropic role of these Hindu monasteries continues. In the 15th-century, these monasteries expanded by establishing Ramanuja-kuta in major South Indian Sri Vaishnavism locations.
  Some Srivaishnavism monasteries include:
  Melukote – matha founded by Ramanuja
  Srirangam – Tenkalai Srivaishnavism matha
  Vanamamalai – Tenkalai Srivaishnavism matha
  Tirukkurungudi – Tenkalai Srivaishnavism matha
  Kanchipuram – Vadakalai Srivaishnavism matha
  Ahobila – Vadakalai Srivaishnavism matha
  Parakala – Vadakalai Srivaishnavism matha
caption: Parakala Mutt at Mysore, Karnataka.
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