page_title: Sampradaya
section_title: Advaita Mathas
hierarchical_section_title: Sampradaya / Types of sampradayas / Advaita Vedanta sampradaya / Advaita Mathas
caption_attribution_description: English: Vidyasankara temple, Sringeri. Español: Templo vidyasankara, en Sringeri.
context_page_description: In Hinduism, a sampradāya can be translated as ‘tradition’, 'spiritual lineage' or ‘religious system’. It relates to a succession of masters and disciples, which serves as a spiritual channel, and provides a delicate network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity.
  The word identity in this respect is problematic. Where identity can be seen as static, sampradaya allows flexibility; one can leave one sampradaya and enter another.
context_section_description: Adi Sankara founded four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ) (monasteries) to preserve and develop his philosophies. One each in the north, south, east and west of the Indian subcontinent, each headed by one of his direct disciples.
  According to Nakamura, these mathas contributed to the influence of Shankara, which was "due to institutional factors". The mathas which he built exist until today, and preserve the teachings and influence of Shankara, "while the writings of other scholars before him came to be forgotten with the passage of time".
  The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Mathas founded by Adi Shankara, and their details.
  The current heads of the mathas trace their authority back to these figures, and each of the heads of these four mathas takes the title of Shankaracharya ("the learned Shankara") after Adi Sankara.
  According to the tradition in Kerala, after Sankara's samadhi at Vadakkunnathan Temple, his disciples founded four mathas in Thrissur, namely Naduvil Madhom, Thekke Madhom, Idayil Madhom and Vadakke Madhom.
caption: (Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri
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