98-575: The Char Dham ( Hindi : चारधाम , romanized : Cārdhām transl. the four abodes ), or the Chatur Dhama ( Sanskrit : चतुर्धाम , romanized : Caturdhāma ), is a set of four Hindu pilgrimage sites in India , consisting of Badrinath , Dwarka , Puri and Rameswaram . Badrinath, Dwarka, and Puri are shrines of Vishnu , whereas Rameswaram is a shrine of Shiva . Defined by Adi Shankara , each dhāma represents
196-507: A Sannyasin or else the crocodile will kill him. The mother agrees, Shankara is freed and leaves his home for education. He reaches a Saivite sanctuary along a river in a north-central state of India, and becomes the disciple of a teacher named Govinda Bhagavatpada . The stories in various hagiographies diverge in details about the first meeting between Shankara and his Guru , where they met, as well as what happened later. Several texts suggest Shankara schooling with Govindapada happened along
294-548: A "crypto-Buddhist," a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman , Anatta and Brahman . Several different dates have been proposed for Shankara. While the Advaita-tradition assigns him to the 5th century BCE, the scholarly-accepted dating places Shankara to be a scholar from the first half of the 8th century CE. The records of
392-465: A "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his digvijaya ("universal conquest," see below) all over India like a victorious conqueror." In his doxography Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha ("Summary of all views") Vidyaranya presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all darsanas , presenting the other darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be
490-585: A core vocabulary of native Prakrit and Sanskrit-derived words. However, Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and contains more direct tatsama Sanskrit -derived words than Urdu, whereas Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and uses more Arabic and Persian loanwords compared to Hindi. Because of this, as well as the fact that the two registers share an identical grammar, a consensus of linguists consider them to be two standardised forms of
588-1142: A larger amount are still used in Urdu poetry written in the Devanagari script. Many words borrowed from Persian in turn were loanwords from Arabic (e.g. muśkil "difficult", havā "air", x(a)yāl "thought", kitāb "book"). Hindi also makes extensive use of loan translation ( calqueing ) and occasionally phono-semantic matching of English . Many Hindustani words were derived from Portuguese due to interaction with colonists and missionaries: Adi Shankaracharya Shaivism/Tantra/Nath New movements Kashmir Shaivism Gaudapada Adi Shankara Advaita-Yoga Nath Kashmir Shaivism Neo-Vedanta Inchegeri Sampradaya Contemporary Shaivism/Tantra/Nath Neo-Advaita Hinduism Buddhism Modern Advaita Vedanta Neo-Vedanta Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( Sanskrit : आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य , romanized : Ādi Śaṅkara, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya , lit. 'First Shankaracharya ', pronounced [aːd̪i ɕɐŋkɐraːt͡ɕaːrjɐ] ),
686-541: A literary language in the 19th century. Earliest examples could be found as Prēm Sāgar by Lallu Lal , Batiyāl Pachīsī of Sadal Misra, and Rānī Kētakī Kī Kahānī of Insha Allah Khan which were published in Devanagari script during the early 19th century. John Gilchrist was principally known for his study of the Hindustani language , which was adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including what
784-536: A medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. It
882-443: A number of disciple scholars during his travels, including Padmapadacharya (also called Sanandana, associated with the text Atma-bodha ), Sureśvaracharya , Totakacharya , Hastamalakacharya , Chitsukha, Prthividhara, Chidvilasayati, Bodhendra, Brahmendra, Sadananda and others, who authored their own literature on Shankara and Advaita Vedanta. According to hagiographies, supported by four maths, Adi Shankara died at Kedarnath in
980-410: A part of the process of Sanskritisation , new words are coined using Sanskrit components to be used as replacements for supposedly foreign vocabulary. Usually these neologisms are calques of English words already adopted into spoken Hindi. Some terms such as dūrbhāṣ "telephone", literally "far-speech" and dūrdarśan "television", literally "far-sight" have even gained some currency in formal Hindi in
1078-552: A particular yuga , with Badrinath representing Satya Yuga , Rameswaram representing Treta Yuga , Dwarka representing Dvapara Yuga , and Puri representing Kali Yuga . Many Hindus believe that visiting these sites can help them achieve moksha . The Char Dham is not to be confused with the Chota Char Dham which comprises Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath. It is a Hindu pilgrimage circuit in Uttarakhand which
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#17327915235631176-483: A rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries ( mathas ) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta. Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher and reformer of the Smartism sampradaya , which is one of four major sampradaya of Hinduism . According to Alf Hiltebeitel , Shankara established
1274-552: A second language. A Hindi proponent, Indian-born Paramananda Jha , was elected vice-president of Nepal. He took his oath of office in Hindi in July 2008. This created protests in the streets for 5 days; students burnt his effigies, and there was a general strike in 22 districts. Nepal Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that his oath in Hindi was invalid and he was kept "inactive" as vice-president. An "angry" Jha said, "I cannot be compelled to take
1372-532: A simplified or pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi ). Outside India, several other languages are recognised officially as "Hindi" but do not refer to the Standard Hindi language described here and instead descend from other nearby languages, such as Awadhi and Bhojpuri . Such languages include Fiji Hindi , which has an official status in Fiji , and Caribbean Hindustani , which
1470-414: A social elite, "sharply distinguished from the general practitioners and theologians of Hinduism." Their teachings were "transmitted among a small number of selected intellectuals". Works of the early Vedanta schools do not contain references to Vishnu or Shiva. It was only after Shankara that "the theologians of the various sects of Hinduism utilized Vedanta philosophy to a greater or lesser degree to form
1568-584: A standardised form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form. In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi. However, in 2014, Urdu was accorded second official language status in the state. After independence, the Government of India instituted the following conventions: On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in
1666-527: A thousand years after Shankara's death, in Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit languages, and the hagiographies are filled with legends and fiction, often mutually contradictory. Many of these are called the Śankara Vijaya ('The conquests ( digvijaya ) of Shankara'), while some are called Guruvijaya , Sankarabhyudaya and Shankaracaryacarita . Of these, the Brhat-Sankara-Vijaya by Citsukha is
1764-657: Is a standard register of the Hindustani language; additionally, Indian media are widely viewed in Pakistan. A sizeable population in Afghanistan , especially in Kabul , can also speak and understand Hindi-Urdu due to the popularity and influence of Bollywood films, songs and actors in the region. Hindi is also spoken by a large population of Madheshis (people having roots in north-India but having migrated to Nepal over hundreds of years) of Nepal . Apart from this, Hindi
1862-465: Is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India . Apart from the script and formal vocabulary, standard Hindi is mutually intelligible with standard Urdu , another recognised register of Hindustani, as both Hindi and Urdu share a core vocabulary base derived from Prakrit (a descendant of Sanskrit). Hindi is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in
1960-409: Is an official language of Gujarat , along with Gujarati . It acts as an additional official language of West Bengal in blocks and sub-divisions with more than 10% of the population speaking Hindi. Similarly, Hindi is accorded the status of official language in the following Union Territories : Delhi , Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu . Although there
2058-550: Is based on the language that was spoken in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab ( Delhi , Meerut and Saharanpur ) called Khariboli ; the vernacular of Delhi and the surrounding region came to replace earlier prestige languages such as Awadhi and Braj . Standard Hindi was developed by supplanting foreign loanwords from the Hindustani language and replacing them with Sanskrit words, though Standard Hindi does continue to possess several Persian loanwords. Modern Hindi became
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#17327915235632156-628: Is borrowed from Sanskrit as tatsam borrowings, especially in technical and academic fields. The formal Hindi standard, from which much of the Persian, Arabic and English vocabulary has been replaced by neologisms compounding tatsam words, is called Śuddh Hindi (pure Hindi), and is viewed as a more prestigious dialect over other more colloquial forms of Hindi. Excessive use of tatsam words sometimes creates problems for native speakers. They may have Sanskrit consonant clusters which do not exist in Hindustani, causing difficulties in pronunciation. As
2254-477: Is common to find Western scholars and Hindus arguing that Sankaracarya was the most influential and important figure in the history of Hindu intellectual thought, this does not seem to be justified by the historical evidence. According to Clark, "Sankara was relatively unknown during his life-time, and probably for several centuries after, as there is no mention of him in Buddhist or jain sources for centuries; nor
2352-455: Is commonly used to specifically refer the modern literary Hindi language, as opposed to colloquial and regional varieties that are also referred to as Hindi in a wider sense . Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of Vedic Sanskrit , through Shauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa (from Sanskrit apabhraṃśa "corrupt"), which emerged in the 7th century CE. The sound changes that characterised
2450-537: Is considered incomplete without a pilgrimage to Rameswaram. The presiding deity is in the form of a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy; it also is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas . Dwarka is located in the state of Gujarat on the westernmost coast of India. The city derives its name from the word " dvara " meaning door or gate in the Sanskrit language. It is located where the Gomti River merges into
2548-801: Is dedicated to Lord Vishnu . It is in the Garhwal hills, on the Alaknanda River banks. The town lies between the Nar and the Narayana mountain ranges and in the shadow of the Nilkantha peak (6,560 m). Nearby within 3 km, there are also other interesting sightseeing spots like Mana, Vyas Gufa, Maatamoorti, Charanpaduka, Bhimkund, and the Mukh of the Saraswati River. Joshimath is situated on
2646-444: Is he mentioned by other important philosophers of the ninth and tenth centuries." According to King and Roodurmun, until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Mandana-Misra , the latter considered to be the major representative of Advaita. Maṇḍana Miśra , an older contemporary of Shankara, was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of Kumarila , but also wrote a seminal text on Advaita that has survived into
2744-578: Is mirror to a hand with bangles, What is Persian to a literate. The emergence of Modern Standard Hindi in the 19th century went along with the Sanskritisation of its vocabulary, leading to a marginalisation of Persian vocabulary in Hindi, which continued after Partition when the Indian government co-opted the policy of Sanskritisation. However, many Persian words (e.g. bas "enough", khud "self") have remained entrenched in Standard Hindi, and
2842-609: Is no specification of a national language in the constitution, it is a widely held belief that Hindi is the national language of India. This is often a source of friction and contentious debate. In 2010, the Gujarat High Court clarified that Hindi is not the national language of India because the constitution does not mention it as such. Outside Asia , the Awadhi language (an Eastern Hindi dialect) with influence from Bhojpuri , Bihari languages , Fijian and English
2940-526: Is now present-day Pakistan ) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary , A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language , The Oriental Linguist , and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in the Perso-Arabic script , Nāgarī script , and in Roman transliteration .In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as
3038-518: Is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the country, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal . The main deity worshipped there is Krishna, revered as Jagannath . It is the only shrine in India where Subhadra , the sister of Krishna, is worshipped along with her brothers, Jagannatha and Balabhadra . As per temple records, King Indradyumna of Avanti built the main temple of Jagannath at Puri. Starting in
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3136-427: Is referred to as Chota Char Dham to differentiate it from this bigger circuit of Char Dham sites. It consists of Yamunotri , Gangotri , Kedarnath , and Badrinath . The Chota Char Dham shrines are closed over winter due to snowfall and reopen for pilgrims with the advent of summer. Hindi language Modern Standard Hindi ( आधुनिक मानक हिन्दी , Ādhunik Mānak Hindī ), commonly referred to as Hindi ,
3234-585: Is regarded as the founder of the Daśanāmi Sampradāya of Hindu monasticism , and the Panchayatana puja and Ṣaṇmata of the Smarta tradition . Advaita Vedanta is, at least in the west, primarily known as a philosophical system. But it is also a tradition of renunciation . Philosophy and renunciation are closely related: Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of
3332-740: Is spoken by the large Indian diaspora which hails from, or has its origin from the "Hindi Belt" of India. A substantially large North Indian diaspora lives in countries like the United States of America , the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates , Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Fiji and Mauritius , where it is natively spoken at home and among their own Hindustani-speaking communities. Outside India, Hindi speakers are 8 million in Nepal ; 863,077 in
3430-464: Is spoken in Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago , and Guyana . Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English. If counted together with the mutually intelligible Urdu, it is the third most-spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. According to reports of Ethnologue (2022, 25th edition) Hindi is the third most-spoken language in
3528-481: Is spoken in Fiji. It is an official language in Fiji as per the 1997 Constitution of Fiji, where it referred to it as "Hindustani"; however, in the 2013 Constitution of Fiji , it is simply called " Fiji Hindi " as the official language. It is spoken by 380,000 people in Fiji. Hindi is spoken as a first language by about 77,569 people in Nepal according to the 2011 Nepal census , and further by 1,225,950 people as
3626-570: Is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in Devanagari script . It is the official language of India alongside English and the lingua franca of North India . Hindi is considered a Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language , which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas. It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states. Hindi
3724-879: Is the dominant form of Hindi online. In an analysis of YouTube comments, Palakodety et al., identified that 52% of comments were in Romanised Hindi, 46% in English, and 1% in Devanagari Hindi. Traditionally, Hindi words are divided into five principal categories according to their etymology: Hindi has naturally inherited a large portion of its vocabulary from Shauraseni Prakrit , in the form of tadbhava words. This process usually involves compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding consonant clusters in Prakrit, e.g. Sanskrit tīkṣṇa > Prakrit tikkha > Hindi tīkhā . Much of Standard Hindi's vocabulary
3822-404: Is the place where Rama , along with his brother Lakshmana and devotee Hanuman, built a bridge (Rama Setu) to reach Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, who had been abducted by Lanka's ruler Ravana. The Ramanathaswamy Temple, dedicated to Shiva, occupies a significant area of Rameswaram. The temple is believed to have been consecrated by Rama. The site is important to Hindus as a pilgrimage to Varanasi
3920-531: Is uncertain. Ten monastic orders in different parts of India are generally attributed to Shankara's travel-inspired Sannyasin schools, each with Advaita notions, of which four have continued in his tradition: Bharati (Sringeri), Sarasvati (Kanchi), Tirtha and Asramin (Dvaraka). Other monasteries that record Shankara's visit include Giri, Puri, Vana, Aranya, Parvata and Sagara – all names traceable to Ashrama system in Hinduism and Vedic literature. Shankara had
4018-570: Is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida . Devanagari consists of 11 vowels and 33 consonants and is written from left to right. Unlike Sanskrit, Devanagari is not entirely phonetic for Hindi, especially failing to mark schwa deletion in spoken Standard Hindi. The Government of India uses Hunterian transliteration as its official system of writing Hindi in the Latin script. Various other systems also exist, such as IAST , ITRANS and ISO 15919 . Romanised Hindi , also called Hinglish ,
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4116-659: The Advaita Vedanta teachings of his time. The central concern of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the true identity of jivatman (individual self) as Ātman - Brahman , taking the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge, beyond the ritually-oriented Mīmāṃsā -exegesis of the Vedas. Shankara's Advaita shows influences from Mahayana Buddhism , despite Shankara's critiques; and Hindu Vaishnava opponents have even accused Shankara of being
4214-673: The Arabian Sea . However, this river Gomti is not the same as the Gomti River , which is a tributary of Ganga River . The legendary city of Dvārakā was the dwelling place of Krishna . It is generally believed that due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dvārakā was submerged six times, and modern-day Dwarka is the 7th such city to be built in the area. Badrinath is located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand at an altitude of 3,133 meters (10,279 feet). The temple of Badrinath
4312-595: The Brahmasutrabhasya , his commentaries on ten principal Upanishads , his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita , and the Upadeśasāhasrī . The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Vivekacūḍāmaṇi has been questioned and mostly rejected by scholarship. His authentic works present a harmonizing reading of the shastras , with liberating knowledge of the self at its core, synthesizing
4410-520: The Brahmatattva-samiksa , a commentary on Mandana Mishra's Brahma-siddhi . His thought was mainly inspired by Mandana Miśra, and harmonises Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Miśra. The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya. It sees yogic practice and contemplation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of
4508-629: The Daśanāmi Sampradaya , organizing a section of the Ekadandi monks under an umbrella grouping of ten names. Several other Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis. According to tradition, Adi Sankara organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ ) (monasteries), with the headquarters at Dvārakā in
4606-586: The Hindi Belt ), as well as an official language of the Government of India, along with English. In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a lingua franca for the people living in Haflong , Assam who speak other languages natively. In Arunachal Pradesh , Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively. Hindi is quite easy to understand for many Pakistanis , who speak Urdu, which, like Hindi,
4704-590: The Sringeri Matha state that Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of "Vikramaditya", but it is unclear to which king this name refers. Though some researchers identify the name with Chandragupta II (4th century CE), modern scholarship accepts the Vikramaditya as being from the Chalukya dynasty of Badami , most likely Vikramaditya II (733–746 CE). Shankara has an unparallelled status in
4802-518: The Treta Yuga when Rama installed a lingam there and worshipped it to get atonement from Shiva for slaying Ravana , a devotee of Shiva. It is believed that Rama's footprints are imprinted there. The third dhāma , Dwaraka, was established in the Dvapara Yuga when Krishna made the city his residence. At the fourth dhāma , Puri, Vishnu is worshipped as Jagannath , his avatar for
4900-855: The United States of America ; 450,170 in Mauritius; 380,000 in Fiji; 250,292 in South Africa; 150,000 in Suriname; 100,000 in Uganda ; 45,800 in the United Kingdom; 20,000 in New Zealand ; 20,000 in Germany ; 26,000 in Trinidad and Tobago; 3,000 in Singapore . Linguistically , Hindi and Urdu are two registers of the same language and are mutually intelligible. Both Hindi and Urdu share
4998-581: The 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Maṇḍana Miśra , and there is no mention of him in concurring Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sources until the 11th century. The popular image of Shankara started to take shape in the 14th century, centuries after his death, when Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire and shifted their allegiance from Advaitic Agamic Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy. Hagiographies dating from
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#17327915235635096-517: The 14th-17th centuries deified him as a ruler - renunciate , travelling on a digvijaya (conquest of the four quarters) across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy, defeating his opponents in theological debates. These hagiographies portray him as founding four mathas ("monasteries"), and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the Dashanami monastic order, and
5194-631: The 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14 September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following the adoption of Hindi as the official language. Now, it is celebrated as Hindi Day . Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language of the Indian Union. Under Article 343, the official languages of the Union have been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English: (1) The official language of
5292-644: The Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India replacing the previous usage of Hindustani in the Perso-Arabic script in the British Indian Empire . To this end, several stalwarts rallied and lobbied pan-India in favour of Hindi, most notably Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad Dwivedi , Kaka Kalelkar , Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das who even debated in Parliament on this issue. As such, on
5390-402: The Hindi heartland. Persian borrowings reached a heyday in the 17th century, pervading all aspects of life. Even grammatical constructs, namely the izafat , were assimilated into Hindi. The status of Persian language then and thus its influence, is also visible in Hindi proverbs : हाथ कंगन को आरसी क्या, पढ़े लिखे को फ़ारसी क्या। Hāth kaṅgan ko ārsī kyā, Paṛhe likhe ko Fārsī kyā. What
5488-405: The Hindu/Indian people') was often used in the past, for example by Amir Khusrau in his poetry. The terms Hindi and Hindu trace back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name Sindhu ( सिन्धु ), referring to the Indus River . The Greek cognates of the same terms are Indus (for the river) and India (for the land of the river). The term Modern Standard Hindi
5586-406: The Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English indefinitely for all official purposes, although the constitutional directive for the Union Government to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained and has strongly influenced its policies. Article 344 (2b) stipulates that the official language commission shall be constituted every ten years to recommend steps for
5684-442: The President may, during the said period, by order authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union. Article 351 of the Indian constitution states: It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as
5782-476: The Suresvara school. Hajime Nakamura states that prior to Shankara, views similar to his already existed, but did not occupy a dominant position within the Vedanta. Until the 11th century, Vedanta itself was a peripheral school of thought; Vedanta became a major influence when it was utilized by various sects of Hinduism to ground their doctrines. The early Vedanta scholars were from the upper classes of society, well-educated in traditional culture. They formed
5880-460: The Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals. (2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement: Provided that
5978-718: The Vedas and reflection are additional factors. The later Advaita Vedanta tradition incorporated Maṇḍana Miśra into the Shankara-fold, by identifying him with Sureśvara (9th century), believing that Maṇḍana Miśra became a disciple of Shankara after a public debate which Shankara won. According to Satchidanandendra Sarasvati , "almost all the later Advaitins were influenced by Mandana Misra and Bhaskara ." He argues that most of post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta actually deviates from Shankara, and that only his student Suresvara, who's had little influence, represents Shankara correctly. In this view, Shankara's influential student Padmapada misunderstood Shankara, while his views were manitained by
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#17327915235636076-424: The Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their sect. It is only during this period that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta was established. Many of Shankara's biographies were created and published in and after the 14th century, such as Vidyaranya's widely cited Śankara-vijaya . Vidyaranya , also known as Madhava, who
6174-515: The Vijayanagara Empire. Furthermore, sects competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their own sectarian system. Vidyaranya and his brothers, note Paul Hacker and other scholars, wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make "the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion" more accessible. Vidyaranya was an influential Advaitin, and he created legends to turn Shankara, whose elevated philosophy had no appeal to gain widespread popularity, into
6272-554: The West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri in the South and Badrikashrama in the North. Each matha was headed by one of his four main disciples, who each continues the Vedanta Sampradaya. According to Paul Hacker, the system may have been initiated by Vidyaranya (14th c.), who may have founded a matha , proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself, as part of his campaign to propagate Shankara's Advaita Vedanta. Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support, and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as
6370-450: The basis of their doctrines," whereby "its theoretical influence upon the whole of Indian society became final and definitive." Examples are Ramanuja (11th c.), who aligned bhakti , "the major force in the religions of Hinduism," with philosophical thought, meanwhile rejecting Shankara's views, and the Nath -tradition. In medieval times, Advaita Vedanta position as most influential Hindu darsana started to take shape, as Advaitins in
6468-487: The berry tree to save Narayana. After completing tapas , Narayana said declared that people should always invoke her name before his. Therefore, Hindus refer to " Lakshmi-Narayana ." Within the satya yuga , the area came to be known as badrināth , the lord of the berry trees, in recognizance of Nara-Narayana’s penance. The temple to him is located on the banks of the Alaknanda River in the Chamoli district of Uttrakhand. The second dhāma , Rameswaram, has its origins in
6566-499: The cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty. His existing biographies are not historical accurate documents, but politically motivated hagiographies which were all written several centuries after his time and abound in legends and improbable events. There are at least fourteen different known hagiographies of Adi Shankara's life. These, as well as other hagiographical works on Shankara, were written many centuries to
6664-413: The current epoch, Kali Yuga . The monk Adi Shankara organised four maṭhas to correspond to the four sites of the Char Dham: the headquarters at Dwarka in the West, Puri in the East, Sringeri Sharada Peetham in the South and Badarikashrama in the North. The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Maṭhas founded by Adi Shankara . Puri is located in the state of Odisha and
6762-446: The death of his father, and was then performed by his mother. Shankara's hagiographies describe him as someone who was attracted to the life of Sannyasa (hermit) from early childhood. His mother disapproved. A story, found in all hagiographies, describe Shankara at age eight going to a river with his mother, Sivataraka , to bathe, and where he is caught by a crocodile. Shankara called out to his mother to give him permission to become
6860-699: The hagiographies about Shankara vary significantly. Different and widely inconsistent accounts of his life include diverse journeys, pilgrimages, public debates, installation of yantras and lingas, as well as the founding of monastic centers in north, east, west and south India. While the details and chronology vary, most hagiographies present Shankara as traveling widely within India, Gujarat to Bengal, and participating in public philosophical debates with different orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy , as well as heterodox traditions such as Buddhists, Jains, Arhatas, Saugatas, and Charvakas . The hagiographies credit him with starting several Matha (monasteries), but this
6958-413: The introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship , the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman , the invisible Supreme Being. While often revered as the most important Indian philosopher, the historical influence of his works on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned. Until
7056-539: The last 125 years, there are no academic studies of any of them – of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current decline. Hindi is adopted as the third official court language in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi . As a result of this status, the Indian workforce in UAE can file their complaints to the labour courts in the country in their own mother-tongue. Hindi is the lingua franca of northern India (which contains
7154-588: The modern era, the Brahma-siddhi . The "theory of error" set forth in the Brahma-siddhi became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error, and for a couple of centuries he was the most influential Vedantin. His student Vachaspati Miśra , who is believed to have been an incarnation of Shankara to popularize the Advaita view, wrote the Bhamati , a commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya , and
7252-405: The most accurate interpretation of the Upanishads. And Vidyaranya founded a matha , proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself. Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support, and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries ( mathas ) to expand
7350-447: The most cited Shankara hagiographies, Anandagiri's, includes stories and legends about historically different people, but all bearing the same name of Sri Shankaracarya or also referred to as Shankara but likely meaning more ancient scholars with names such as Vidya-sankara, Sankara-misra and Sankara-nanda. Some hagiographies are probably written by those who sought to create a historical basis for their rituals or theories. According to
7448-500: The most inclusive system. The Vaishanava traditions of Dvaita and Visishtadvaita were not classified as Vedanta, and placed just above Buddhism and Jainism, reflecting the threat they posed for Vidyaranya's Advaita allegiance. Bhedabheda wasn't mentioned at all, "literally written out of the history of Indian philosophy." Such was the influence of the Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha , that early Indologists also regarded Advaita Vedanta as
7546-576: The northern Indian state of Uttarakhand , a Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas. Texts say that he was last seen by his disciples behind the Kedarnath temple, walking in the Himalayas until he was not traced. Some texts locate his death in alternate locations such as Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu) and somewhere in the state of Kerala. According to the hagiographies related to the monastery of Kanchi, Adi Sankara died at Kanchi. Traditionally, Shankara
7644-670: The oath now in Nepali. I might rather take it in English." Hindi is a protected language in South Africa . According to the Constitution of South Africa , the Pan South African Language Board must promote and ensure respect for Hindi along with other languages. According to a doctoral dissertation by Rajend Mesthrie in 1985, although Hindi and other Indian languages have existed in South Africa for
7742-582: The official language of the imperial court during the reign of Shah Jahan . It is recorded that Emperor Aurangzeb spoke in Hindvi . The Hindustani vernacular became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement , and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian subcontinent, which is reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs. Standard Hindi
7840-449: The oldest hagiographies, Shankara was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala , in a village named Kaladi sometimes spelled as Kalati or Karati. His parents were an aged, childless, couple who led a devout life of service to the poor. They named their child Shankara, meaning "giver of prosperity". His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's upanayanam , the initiation into student-life, had to be delayed due to
7938-565: The oldest hagiography but only available in excerpts, while Sankaradigvijaya by Mādhava (17th c.) and Sankaravijaya by Anandagiri are the most cited. Other significant hagiographies are the Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Cidvilāsa, c. between the 15th and 17th centuries), and the Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of the Kerala region, extant from c. the 17th century). } Scholars note that one of
8036-575: The one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship , the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman , the invisible Supreme Being, implying that Advaita Vedanta stood above all other traditions. Scholars have questioned Shankara's early influence in India. The Buddhist scholar Richard E. King states, Although it
8134-490: The place of the English borrowings (ṭeli)fon and ṭīvī . Hindi also features significant Persian influence, standardised from spoken Hindustani . Early borrowings, beginning in the mid-12th century, were specific to Islam (e.g. Muhammad , Islām ) and so Persian was simply an intermediary for Arabic. Later, under the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire , Persian became the primary administrative language in
8232-522: The progressive use of Hindi language and impose restrictions on the use of the English language by the union government. In practice, the official language commissions are constantly endeavouring to promote Hindi but not imposing restrictions on English in official use by the union government. At the state level, Hindi is the official language of the following Indian states: Bihar , Chhattisgarh , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh , Jharkhand , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand . Hindi
8330-643: The river Narmada in Omkareshwar , a few place it along river Ganges in Kashi ( Varanasi ) as well as Badari ( Badrinath in the Himalayas). The hagiographies vary in their description of where he went, who he met and debated and many other details of his life. Most mention Shankara studying the Vedas , Upanishads and Brahmasutra with Govindapada, and Shankara authoring several key works in his youth, while he
8428-502: The same language, Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu. Hindi is the most commonly used scheduled language in India and is one of the two official languages of the union , the other being English. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan and is one of 22 scheduled languages of India , also having official status in Uttar Pradesh , Jammu and Kashmir , Delhi , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh and Bihar . Hindi
8526-421: The sannyasa tradition, and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics. Shankara was a Vaishnavite who came to be presented as an incarnation of Shiva in the 14th century, to facilitate the adoption of his teachings by previously Saiva-oriented mathas in the Vijayanagara Empire. From the 14th century onwards hagiographies were composed, in which he is portrayed as establishing
8624-465: The slopes above the confluence of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers. Of the four Maths established by Adi Shankaracharya , Joshimath is the winter seat of Char dham. While the three other Dhams remain open throughout the year, Badrinath Dham only stays open for pilgrims' darshan from April to October each year. Another circuit of four ancient pilgrimage sites in the Indian state of Uttarakhand
8722-623: The tenth century, the first king of the Eastern Ganga dynasty , Anantavarman Chodaganga , rebuilt the present temple on the site of the pre-existing temples in the compound, excluding the main Jagannath temple. Puri is the site of the Govarḍhana Maṭha , one of the four cardinal maṭhas created by Adi Shankara . Rameswaram is located in the state of Tamil Nadu , in the southern part of the Indian peninsula. According to legend, this
8820-719: The tradition of Advaita Vedanta . Hagiographies from the 14th-17th century portray him as a victor who travelled all over India to help restore the study of the Vedas According to Frank Whaling, "Hindus of the Advaita persuasion (and others too) have seen in Sankara the one who restored the Hindu dharma against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India." His teachings and tradition are central to Smartism and have influenced Sant Mat lineages. Tradition portrays him as
8918-471: The transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are: During the period of Delhi Sultanate in medieval India , which covered most of today's north India, eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal and Bangladesh and which resulted in the contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures , the Sanskrit and Prakrit base of Old Hindi became enriched with loanwords from Persian , evolving into the present form of Hindustani. Hindi achieved prominence in India after it became
9016-550: The unifier of the Shanmata tradition of worship. The title of Shankaracharya , used by heads of certain monasteries in India, is derived from his name. Due to his later fame, over 300 texts are attributed to him, including commentaries ( Bhāṣya ), introductory topical expositions ( Prakaraṇa grantha ) and poetry ( Stotra ). However, most of these are likely to be written by admirers or pretenders or scholars with an eponymous name. Works known to be written by Shankara himself are
9114-677: The world including first and second language speakers. Hindi is the fastest growing language of India , followed by Kashmiri , Meitei , Gujarati and Bengali according to the 2011 census of India . The term Hindī originally was used to refer to inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic Plain . It was borrowed from Classical Persian هندی Hindī ( Iranian Persian pronunciation: Hendi ), meaning ' of or belonging to Hind (India) ' (hence, ' Indian ' ). Another name Hindavī ( हिन्दवी ) or Hinduī ( हिन्दुई ) (from Persian هندوی 'of or belonging to
9212-422: Was an Indian Vedic scholar , philosopher and teacher ( acharya ) of Advaita Vedanta . Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with
9310-639: Was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the Union Government by 1965 (per directives in Article 344 (2) and Article 351), with state governments being free to function in the language of their own choice. However, widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in South India (such as those in Tamil Nadu ) led to the passage of
9408-418: Was named by the religious tourism industry. According to Hindu legend, Badrinath became prominent when Nara-Narayana , an avatar of Vishnu, performed tapas there. Many berry trees then grew in the area, so the site was initially named badarikāvaṇa , the forest of berries. Per legend, a large berry tree grew above Nara-Narayana to save him from the rain and sun. Locals say that it was Lakshmi who became
9506-562: Was studying with his teacher. It is with his teacher Govinda, that Shankara studied Gaudapadiya Karika, as Govinda was himself taught by Gaudapada. Most also mention a meeting with scholars of the Mimamsa school of Hinduism namely Kumarila and Prabhakara, as well as Mandana and various Buddhists, in Shastrartha (an Indian tradition of public philosophical debates attended by large number of people, sometimes with royalty). Thereafter,
9604-577: Was the 12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386 and a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire, inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India. This may have been in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate , but his efforts were also targeted at Sri Vaishnava groups, especially Visishtadvaita , which was dominant in territories conquered by
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