# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/adi-shankara
# Generated: 2026-09-02T00:26:29.603Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/adi-shankara"
name: "Adi Shankara"
slug: "adi-shankara"
description: "An 8th-century Indian monk whose actual life is almost entirely obscure, buried under seven centuries of silence — then reinvented in the 14th century as a traveling philosopher-king who unified Hindu thought. Over 300 texts bear his name; he probably wrote fewer than ten."
tagline: "8th-century Hindu philosopher and theologian- Restorer of “Dashanami Sampradaya”"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Raja_Ravi_Varma_-_Sankaracharya.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "India"
  isoCode: "IN"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "788"
deathDate: "820"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           65.17
  momentum:             0
  historical:           25.81224
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q180967"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Adi%20Shankara"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A2%D8%AF%D9%89_%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7"
    title: "آدى شانكارا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BF_%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%B0"
    title: "আদি শংকৰ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Eankara"
    title: "Şankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0"
    title: "Шанкара"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%B7%D1%96_%D0%A8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0"
    title: "Адзі Шанкара"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0"
    title: "Шанкара"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF_%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0"
    title: "आदि शंकर"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BF_%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%99%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%B0"
    title: "আদি শঙ্কর"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Xankara"
    title: "Adi Xankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81di_%C5%A0ankara"
    title: "Ádi Šankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankara"
    title: "Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi-%C5%9Cankaro"
    title: "Adi-Ŝankaro"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%A7"
    title: "شانکرا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gcr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gom.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Adi Shankara"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AA%86%E0%AA%A6%E0%AA%BF_%E0%AA%B6%E0%AA%82%E0%AA%95%E0%AA%B0%E0%AA%BE%E0%AA%9A%E0%AA%BE%E0%AA%B0%E0%AB%8D%E0%AA%AF"
    title: "આદિ શંકરાચાર્ય"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adi_%C5%9Eankara"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://bjn.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C5%9Aa%E1%B9%85kara"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://hi.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF_%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Adi Shankara was a Vedic scholar-monk who wrote commentaries on the Brahma sutras, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, teaching Advaita Vedanta — the liberating knowledge that individual self and Brahman are one. Until the 10th century he was overshadowed by his contemporary Maṇḍana Miśra, with no mention in concurrent sources until the 11th. The legendary Shankara emerged in the 14th century when Sringeri monasteries, backed by Vijayanagara emperors, shifted allegiance to Brahmanical orthodoxy and needed a founder-hero: hagiographies cast him as a ruler-renunciate who traveled India defeating rivals in debate, founding four mathas, organizing the Dashanami monastic order, and reconciling rival sects through Panchayatana worship. Scholarship now questions whether the historical figure was even Advaita-focused — he may have been relatively unknown and Vaishnava-oriented. What survives authentically are the commentaries and the Upadeśasāhasrī: precise, austere works arguing that right knowledge arises the moment one hears the great utterances of the Upanishads, no meditation required.