Sringeri Sharada Peetham

Acharya: Sri Bharati Tirtha
Location	Shringeri
Founder	Adi Shankara
First Acharya	Maṇḍana Miśra
Formation	820 AD
Website	http://www.sringeri.net/

Sringeri Sharada Peetha is the southern Advaita Vedanta matha or monastery established by Adi Shankara in 8th century AD. The matha is on the banks of the Tunga River in Chikkamagalur district, Karnataka, India, 105 kilometers from Mangaluru and 303 kilometers from the state capital, Bengaluru.

Traditionally, Adi Shankara (8th century) is regarded as the greatest teacher and reformer of the Smartha. According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Shankara established the nondualist interpretation of the Upanishads as the touchstone of a revived smartha tradition. The Sringeri Sharada monastery founded by Shankara in Karnataka is still the centre of Smartha tradition .

Sankara is believed to have envisioned this place as the holiest where a sanke hooded as a umbrella to protect a frog from hot Sun during its labour. This was the first place where Sankara is believed to have established one of the four major mutts.

As per Hindu legend, the place is associated with sage Rishyasringa, son of Vibhandankamuni. He did severe penance at this place, leading to the name Sringeri. The temple was renovated during the regime of Vijayanagara Empire during the 14-16th centuries and later during 1916.

Sureshwaracharya, who was Maṇḍana Miśra in his purvashrama, was installed as the successor of Shankaracharya before the latter resumed his tour to found his three pithas at Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath.

Vidushekara Bharathi was appointed as Uttaradhikari of the Sringeri Sharadha Peetham by Bharati Thirtha on 23 January 2015. The last five Jagadgurus were:

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