Hinduism
From the times of the Vedas people following monastic ways of life have been in existence in the Indian sub-continent. In what is now called Hinduism, monks have existed for a long time, and with them, their respective monasteries, called mathas. Most famous among them are the chatur-amnaya mathas established by Adi Shankara which formed the nodal centres of under whose guidance the ancient Order of Vedantic monks were re-organised under ten names Dashanami Sampradaya, Ashta matha (Eight monasteries) of Udupi founded by Madhvacharya (Madhwa acharya) a dwaitha philosopher.
Read more about this topic: Monastery