Advaita Vedanta

=====Influence of Shankara=====
While Shankara has an unparalleled status in the history of Advaita Vedanta, scholars have questioned the traditional narrative of Shankara's early influence in India.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|King|2002|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33–34}} Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary [[Maṇḍana Miśra]], who was considered to be the major representative of Advaita.{{sfn|King|2002|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33–34}} Only when Vacaspati Misra, an influential student of Maṇḍana Miśra, harmonised the teachings of Shankara with those of Maṇḍana Miśra, Shankara's teachings gained prominence.{{sfn|King|1999|p=55}} Some modern Advaitins argue 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.{{sfn|Potter|2006|p=6-7}} In this view, Shankara's influential student Padmapada misunderstood Shankara, while his views were manitained by the Suresvara school.{{sfn|Potter|2006|p=6-7}} According to [[Satchidanandendra Sarasvati]], "almost all the later Advaitins were influenced by Mandana Misra and [[Bhāskara (Bhedabheda Vedanta)|Bhaskara]]."{{sfn|Satchidanandendra Sarasvati|1997|p=6}}{{refn|group=note|name="Influence_of_Shankara"}} Until the 11th century, Vedanta itself was a peripheral school of thought;{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|p=157; 229 note 57}} Vedanta became a major influence when Vedanta philosophy was utilized by various sects of Hinduism to ground their doctrines,{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|pp=691-693}} such as [[Ramanuja]] (11th c.), who aligned [[bhakti]], "the major force in the religions of Hinduism," with philosophical thought, meanwhile rejecting Shankara's views.<ref group=web name=EB_Ramanuja>Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja Ramanajua] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621165517/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ramanuja |date=21 June 2022 }}</ref>

The cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta started only centuries later, in the [[Vijayanagara Empire]] in the 14th century,{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|p=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=178–183}} when Sringeri ''matha'' started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire and became a powerful institution.{{sfn|Goodding|2013|p=89}} [[Vidyaranya]], also known as Madhava, who was the Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from ca. 1374–1380 to 1386{{sfn|Goodding|2013|p=89}} played a central role in this growing influence of Advaita Vedanta, and the [[deification]] of Shankara as a [[Chakravarti (Sanskrit term)|ruler]]-[[Sannyasin|renunciate]].{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|p=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}}{{sfn|Nowicka|2016|p=147}}{{sfn|Bader|2001|p=vii}} From 1346 onwards Sringeri ''matha'' received patronage from the Vijayanagara kings, and its importance and influence grew rapidly in the second half of the 14th century.{{sfn|Goodding|2013|p=89}}{{refn|group=note|The insignificance of Srineri ''matha'' before this time was such, that Hacker and Kulke & Rothermund have argued that Sringeri ''matha'' may have been founded by Vidyaranya himself, proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|1998|p=177}}}} Vidyaranya and the Sringeri matha competed for royal patronage and converts with Srivaisnava ''Visistadvaita'', which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire,{{sfn|Stoker|2016|p=55-56}}  and Madhava (the pre-ordination name of Vidyaranya) presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all ''darsanas'', portraying the other ''darsanas'' as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}} The subsequent ''[[Digvijaya (conquest)|Shankara Digvijayam]]'' genre, following the example of the earlier ''Madhva Digvijayam'',{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=157}} presented Shankara as a [[Chakravarti (Sanskrit term)|ruler]]-[[Sannyasin|renunciate]], conquering the four quarters of India and bringing harmony.{{sfn|Nowicka|2016|p=147}}{{sfn|Bader|2001|p=vii}} The genre created legends to turn Shankara into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his ''digvijaya'' ("universal conquest") all over India like a victorious conqueror."{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|1998|p=177}}

Shankara's position was further established in the 19th and 20th century, when neo-Vedantins and western Orientalists, following Vidyaranya, elevated Advaita Vedanta "as the connecting theological thread that united Hinduism into a single religious tradition."{{sfn|King|2002|p=129}} Shankara became "an iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.{{sfn|King|2002|pp=129-130}}