Guru Parampara

The Advaita Guru Parampara is traced from God Himself as Narayana/Sadasiva through Vedic seers, Adi Sankaracharya and his four disciples, Suresvara, Padmapada, Hastamalaka and Totaka. All Dasanami Sannyasis trace their own guru paramparas ultimately through one of these four disciples of Sankaracharya.  

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The line of succession of Sankaracharyas at Sringeri is an unbroken one from the days of Sri Adi Sankaracharya and Suresvara. There have been 36 heads of the matha to date. The line of succession of the Sringeri matha reads like a veritable who's who in the history of post-Sankaran Advaita Vedanta. Starting from Suresvaracharya who was Sankaracharya's immediate disciple, the Sringeri Sankaracharyas have written many of the important later advaita texts. Thus, we have important writers like Jnanaghana, Jnanottama, Bharati Tirtha (I), Vidyaranya and Narasimha Bharati on the Sringeri list. This tradition has been continued by Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati (III) Mahaswamigal in his classic commentary to the Vivekachudamani. The current head of the Sringeri matha is Sri Bharati Tirtha (II). The history of the Sringeri matha since the period of Sri Bharati Tirtha (I) and Sri Vidyaranya onwards is well documented. The names of the Acharyas preceding Sri Bharati Tirtha (I) are based on the ancient traditions of the matha. Most of the names from the Sringeri lineage upto Vidyaranya are also found in the Sri Guru Charitra, a 15th century Marathi work by Gangadhara Saraswati.

  1. Adi Sankaracharya

  2. Suresvara

  3. Nityabodhaghana

  4. Jnanaghana

  5. Jnanottama

  6. Jnana Giri

  7. Simha Giri

  8. Isvara Tirtha

  9. Narasimha Tirtha

  10. Vidyasankara Tirtha

  11. Bharati Tirtha (I)

  12. Vidyaranya

  13. Chandrasekhara Bharati (I)

  14. Narasimha Bharati (I)

  15. Purushottama Bharati (I)

  16. Sankara Bharati

  17. Chandrasekhara Bharati (II)

  18. Narasimha Bharati (II)

  19. Purushottama Bharati (II)

  20. Ramachandra Bharati

  21. Narasimha Bharati (III)

  22. Narasimha Bharati (IV)

  23. Narasimha Bharati (V)

  24. Abhinava Narasimha Bharati (I)

  25. Sacchidananda Bharati (I)

  26. Narasimha Bharati (VI)

  27. Sacchidananda Bharati (II)

  28. Abhinava Sacchidananda Bharati (I)

  29. Narasimha Bharati (VII)

  30. Sacchidananda Bharati (III)

  31. Abhinava Sacchidananda Bharati (II)

  32. Narasimha Bharati (VIII)

  33. Sacchidananda Sivabhinava

  34. Narasimha Bharati

  35. Chandrasekhara Bharati (III)

  36. Abhinava Vidyatirtha

  37. Bharati Tirtha

The Sringeri matha is the traditional center of the Puri, Bharati and Sarasvati suffixes among the ten orders of Sannyasis belonging to the Advaita tradition. Only the designated heads of the matha are listed above, but it must be noted that the matha is also considered to be a base for Sannyasis of all the ten Dasanami orders. Some of the early Acharyas in the Sringeri line of succession have had names ending in Giri, and one has been an Aranya (Vidyaranya), but most of them have been from the Bharati or Tirtha orders.  

In southern India, Sringeri is the original home of all Advaita religion and philosophy and monastic orders. Sringeri may also be considered to be an indirect source of some of the modern Vedanta institutions like the Ramakrishna Mission, the Divine Life Society, the Chinmaya Mission etc. The founders of these newer institutions were initiated into Sannyasa by various travelling gurus who themselves were originally associated with the Sringeri Matha.