page_title: Matha
section_title: Matha in Jainism
hierarchical_section_title: Matha / Matha in Jainism
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of the main temple at the Melsithamur Jain Math (Jina Kanchi Jain Math), located in Gingee, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. This Math is the residence of Bhattaraka Laxmisena, the religious head of the Tamil Jains.
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: Jain monasteries, states Paul Dundas, have also been called Matha. Archaeological evidence from Tamil Nadu, which has generally survived better than rest of South Asia, suggest monasteries were being built near Jain temples in south India in about the 5th-century CE, and these hosted naked monks of Jainism. In other parts, Jaina mathas received royal support along with Buddhist and Hindu monasteries. According to Jaina texts of the 13th to 15th century, such as by the historian Srutasagara Gani, Jaina monks in these matha were persecuted by Muslim officials for their way of life, thereby suggesting that the matha tradition had continued in the first half of the 2nd millennium.
  The term matha is also used for Jain monasteries. Some Jain Mathas are:
  Shravana Belgola
  Moodabidri
  Mel Sithamur Jain Math
  Arahanthgiri Jain Math
  Kumbhoj
  Kanakagiri Jain Matha
  Humbaj
  Karkala
  Amminabhavi
  Kambadahalli
  Sonda Jain Math
  Lakkavalli Jain Matha
  Kolhapur
  Nandani Jain Matha
caption: Mel Sithamur Jain Math, the residence of Bhattaraka Laxmisena
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