Sringeri Sharada Peetham - History

History

The origin of the matha is described in various traditional sources, including the Śankara Vijaya of Mādhava. Adi Shankara is said to have lived here for twelve out of his short life-span of thirty-two years.

Vishwarupa, assuming the name of Suresvaracharya, was installed here as the successor of Shankaracharya before the latter resumed his tour to found his three pithas at Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath. Thus, the matha traces its lineage from Suresvaracharya. The Sringeri matha records its tradition from the 8th century onwards. The history of the Sringeri matha since the period of Sri Bharathi Tirtha (I) and Sri Vidyaranya (14th century) onwards has been documented. Most of the names from the Sringeri lineage up to Vidyaranya are also found in the Sri Guru Charitra, a 15th-century Marathi work by Gangadhara Saraswathi.

In 1791, Maratha cavalry under Raghunath Rao Patwardhan raided the temple and matha, killing and wounding many, and robbing the places of all their valuable possessions. On 24 May 1791 Trimbak Rao Pethe, a general of Madhavrao II gave the following account of the incident to Balasaheb Patwardhan of Miraj:

"The army crossed the Tunga but the Lamans and the Pendharis had previously proceeded towards Shivamogga. They went to the Swami's village of Shringeri and plundered it. They robbed the Swami of all his belongings, including the danda (cane) and kamandalu (ascetic's staff and water jug), and left nothing. Even women were molested and some of them sacrificed their lives, the images belonging to the Swami, consisting of those of gods were plundered. The Lamans brought away all the elephants and horses. The Swami fasted for 5 days and died (in consequence)."

After news of the raid reached Raghunath Rao Patwardhan, the raiders were arrested but out of all the stolen goods, only the elephants were recovered. The incumbent Shankaracharya undertook a fast in order to raise the attention of Maratha authorities to his grievances, and later repeatedly wrote to Madhavrao II requesting that his property be restored. It is not known if the guilty were punished for their crimes, or whether the Shankaracharya was compensated for his losses. In his letter to the Peshwa dated 30 December 1791, Raghunath Rao Patwardhan denied responsibility for the raid and stated that Lamans belonging to other detachments were guilty of the offence. He further demanded an enquiry into the matter.

The Shankaracharya petitioned the Mysorean ruler, Tipu Sultan for help. About 30 letters written in Kannada, which were exchanged between Tipu Sultan's court and the Sringeri Shankaracharya, were discovered in 1916 by the Director of Archaeology in Mysore. Tipu expressed his indignation and grief at the news of the raid: "People who have sinned against such a holy place are sure to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds at no distant date in this Kali age in accordance with the verse: "Hasadbhih kriyate karma ruladbhir-anubhuyate" (People do deeds smilingly, but suffer the consequences crying)."

He immediately ordered the Asaf (Nawab) of Bednur to supply the Shankaracharya with 200 rahatis (fanams) in cash and other gifts and articles. Tipu's interest in the Sringeri temple continued for many years, and he was still writing to the Shankaracharya in the 1790s.

People of all castes from all over India visit the Śankāracharya at the matha, but the majority of followers are Smartha Brahmins of South India, Maharashtra and Goa.

The head of the matha or Guru Parampara is venerated as Jagadguru. The head has so far been chosen by the prevailing pontiff usually from among his disciples usually chosen as a Brahmachari, educated in the Vedas and other required learning. So far the Pontiffs have been monks. The present head of the math is Bharati Tirtha Swaminah.