Adi Śankara is arguably the greatest "historical" figure of religion India has produced, post Buddha

But despite his historicity, v few biographical details about him are known definitely

Including details as rudimentary as his "time period", his final resting place etc

What has survived however are his works - which have a distinctive stamp, and are clearly the work of one person

The commentaries on -

Brahma Sūtras
Bhagavad-Gītā
Upaniṣads

and his non-commentarial work - Upadeśasāhasri)

This thread is an attempt to figure what we know about the "historical" Śankara.

When did he live?
Where was he born?
What institutions did he establish?
Where did he attain samAdhi

There is no consensus on any of these questions except perhaps Question 1

On Question 1 -

"When did he live"?

Western Indologists provide the dates of 788 CE to 820 CE

But this is not supported by any of the "traditional" maThas or even the traditional "biographies"

That begs the question - how was this date arrived at?

One source that is relied on is the Cambodian inscription of the Khmer empire ruler Indravarman (878-887 CE) which mentions the name of his teacher "Sivasoma, who ni turn is the pupil of "BhagavAn Shankara"

Which would place him in the early 800s

There is also a stanza in the great poem attributed to Shankara - "Soundaryalahari" which has the expression "drAvida sisu"

dayAvatyA dattAm drAvidasisurAsvAdya tava yat
kavInAm praud’AnAm ajani kamanIya: kava yithA

Here many people have surmised that drAvida sisu refers to the great Nayanar "Sambandhar" of the Tamil country.

Since Sambandhar lived in the middle of 7th century, placing Sankara in the late 8th / early 9th century gains credence

The precise date of 788 CE appears to have derived from a verse of anonymous authorship

"nidhi nAgebha vahnyabde vibhave shankarodayah
......"

Here the first verse taken in revere gives 3889 of Kali era as Shankara's birth date - which corresponds to 788 CE.

But the counter to this theory is that Kanchi maTha was headed by a Shankaracharya known as "Abhinava Shankara" (the new-age Shankara) between 801-839, who was born in 788CE

So kAnchi mutt holds that 788 CE corresponds to this Abhinava Shankara - born in Chidambaram not Kerala!

So this gives a different twist to whatever we've discussed so far -

Likely the Cambodian inscription too refers to this Chidambaram-born Shankara of Kanchi!

And perhaps the author of Saundarya-lahiri too is this Abhinava Shankara of Tamil country. Not Adi Shankara

But if that's Abhinava Shankara, what about "Adi Shankara" - the famed author of the great Vedantin commentaries?

As per the Sringeri maTha records, Adi Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of VIkramAditya in Kaladi, Kerala

Now which VikramAditya is this?

Historically scholars have mistaken this Vikramaditya to be the VIkramaditya of Ujjain that would push back Shankara's birth to 1st cen BCE

But given Shankara's location in the peninsula, the current view of the maTha is that this refers to Chalukya king Vikramaditya I of Badami

This king ruled in Badami (Vatapi) between 655 to 680 CE, so that would make Adi Shankara a figure of mid-late 7th century as opposed to early 9th century

This would also mean the Abhinava Shankara of kAnchi is only about 120 years younger than Adi Shankara of Kaladi

The other argument in favor of mid 7th cen date is that Adi Shankara cites Dharmakirti in his work "Upadesha Sahasri"

Dharmakirti, a southern Buddhist, is known to have worked in Nalanda in 7th cen

So that makes situating Adi Shankara in late 7th cen plausible

Also Sankara was a near-contemporary of Kumarila Bhatta, as per many of the traditional hagiographies

Since kumArIla quotes kAlidasa (who is placed in early 5th century), that makes the 7th cen date of Shankara plausible, and strongly militates against pre 5th cen dates

The major argument in favor of much older dates circa 5th century BCE (!!) stem from the "maTha head lists" maintained by Kanchi mutt and Dwaraka Mutt

As per the Kanchi Kamakoti list, Shankara occupied the seat of the mutt between 480 BCE to 477 BCE)

But these lists are likely dubious.

The scholar Ullur Parameswara Iyer, himself a devout Smartha, had no qualms in saying that most of these Math lists have been formulated as late as 16th century CE!!

Now why are these lists dubious?

They are not consistent with the writings of Shankara. Shankara appears v well abreast with Buddhist philosophy, which was not existent in a mature form as early as 5th cen BCE!

And all hagiographies cite Shankara debating with people like Kumarila, who belong to a post 5th cen milieu

Moreover hagiographies situate Shankara in Kerala (almost without exception).

At that time period (5th cen BCE), Aryanization of the south was still v incipient.

Shankara appears to be a product of a more deeply Aryanized South India of 6th/7th cen CE

5th cen BCE seems too early for a figure that mature to be situated in the deep-south

So the likely version of events is -

Adi Shankara was indeed born in Kaladi circa 7th cen

Possibly he was associated with the maTha in Sringeri

But there was also a different "Abhinava" Shankara of kAnchi a century later, for whom the 788 CE date makes more sense

While Adi Shankara likely authored all the important Vedantin commentaries for which he is justly celebrated, works like Saundaryalahari (and possibly many other religious stotras) are perhaps the work of the Chidambaram-born Abhinava Shankara!

With respect to the "place of birth" -

Kaladi seems to be the unanimous choice. Held by the major "biographies" including the most celebrated work of Madhava-Vidyaranya (of 14th century)

The only major "Digvijaya" which differs is that of Anantanandagiri, which cites Chidambaram as the birthplace

But this Digvijaya is likely referring to Abhinava Shankara of Kanchi was was perhaps a native of Chidambaram

Not Adi Shankara

Now we move to the next question

"What are the maThas established by Shankara?"

Somehow the popular perception is that he established 4 maThas

Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Badri

Kanchi is not a part of the quartet

But one is not sure why this 4-Math theory is popular

It appears this four-MaTha theory first finds mention in CHidvilasa's Shankara Vijaya

But this work is likely post 16th century, and is not considered as a canonical work even within Digvijaya literature, nor is it the oldest extant version