Adi Shankara's Sanskrit/Languages Adi Sankara's bashyas are a cerebral delight for any scholar, poet, logician, grammarian, and so on. His grasp of the Sanskrit language, as well as his lyrical abilities, will enchant any connoisseur. Even when he digs into the esoteric ideas of the Upanishads and Vedas, he guides the reader via reasoning and reason. He uses simple words but makes them count by explaining their various meanings and usages. Shankara was born in 788 AD in India. His father was a wealthy chieftain named Govinda Dikshitar who served as an adviser to the kings of Dakshina (now known as Karnataka) and Tamrapatra (now known as Manipur). Govinda Dikshitar had several other children from different mothers which made Adi Shankara an uncle. When he was seven years old, his family moved to a new town called Talakad where he grew up among scholars and poets. There he met many teachers who influenced him greatly; some were Digambar Jains, Brahmans, and Buddhists. He also received religious training from monks belonging to various schools-Jain, Buddhist, and Brahman. In 822 AD at the age of 28, he traveled to Kerala to meet with famous scholars including Parashara Hetu, a teacher of logic; and Rama Bhatta, a mathematician and astronomer. It was during this trip that he first encountered the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism which would later become his own brand of Hinduism.