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Shankaracharya

Philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the A Dvaita Vedanta college of philosophy, from whose doctrines the principle currents of modern Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra and the principal Upanishads, affirming his belief in a single everlasting unchanging reality (Brahman) and the phantasm of plurality and differentiation.

There are no less than 11 works that profess to be biographies of Sankara. All of them were composed several centuries later than the time of Sankara and are stuffed with legendary stories and incredible anecdotes, a few of that are mutually conflicting. At the moment there are no supplies with which to reconstruct his life with certainty. His date of delivery is naturally a controversial problem. It has been customary to assign him the beginning and loss of life dates 788-820. However the dates seven-hundred-750, grounded in 20th-century scholarship, are extra acceptable.

Sankara was energetic in a politically chaotic age. He wouldn't teach his doctrine to city dwellers. The facility of Buddhism was nonetheless sturdy in the cities, although already declining, and Jainism, a nontheistic ascetic faith, prevailed among the retailers and manufacturers. Well-liked Hinduism occupied the minds of peculiar people, whereas metropolis dwellers pursued ease and pleasure. There were additionally epicureans in cities. It was tough for Sankara to speak Vedanta philosophy to these people. Consequently, Sankara propagated his teachings mainly to sannyāsins and intellectuals in the villages, and he gradually gained the respect of Brahmans and feudal lords. He enthusiastically endeavoured to revive the orthodox Brahmanical tradition with out being attentive to the bhakti (devotional) motion, which had made a deep impression on abnormal Hindus in his age.