Shankara

Shankara (Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, traditionally c. 788–820 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian who systematized Advaita Vedanta, the non-dual school of Hindu thought. Traditional biographies describe him as a South Indian Brahmin who travelled widely, debated rival schools, and founded monastic centres in the four corners of India; modern scholarship debates the dates. His commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the principal Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita argue that Brahman, the ultimate reality, is identical with the self (atman), and that the apparent multiplicity of the world results from ignorance (avidya).