INDIA, November 8, 2025 (By Choodie Shivaram): Some places are sanctified by the birth of Gods and great saints. As Ayodhya is to Rama, Krishna is to Mathura, Kalady is to Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya, revered as an avatara of Lord Shiva. This eighth century saint reinstated the supremacy of Vedanta and revived Sanathana Dharma through his profound Advaitha Vedanta philosophy.
Kalady, a tranquil town in Kerala in South India, is the birthplace of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya; the soil on which Shankara’s tender feet walked, the land that nurtured the saviour of Sanathana Dharma when its doctrines and scriptures were being destroyed. Kalady today is a spiritually vibrant pilgrim centre that houses the temples of Adi Shankaracharya, Sharadamba and the Samadhi of Aryamba, Shankaracharya’s mother. It is a prosperous educational hub and centre for Vedantic learning.
Shivaguru and Aryamba, an extremely devout childless middle aged couple performed intense penance at the famous Vadakkannathan temple near Thrissur to beget a child. Lord Shiva appeared in Shivaguru’s dream and said, “that, he will be blessed with an omniscient son whose fame shall live as long as the stars and the Sun shine, but would depart after a short life on completing his mission”.
Aryamba gave birth to a son on Vaishakha Shukla panchami according to the lunar calendar in 788 AD; they named him Shankara. Little did they know their son was the reincarnation of Shiva, whose life would impact generations.
During this period, Bharat was in chaos; irrational superstitions, religious practices not sanctioned by the Vedas and cultures that denounced the Vedas were dominant. Shankaracharya’s relentless verve, astounding intelligence and charisma brought about the renaissance of Sanathana Dharma. In a mere 32 years, he traversed the length and breadth of Bharat thrice, established four mutts as bastions to protect Sanathana dharma and propagate Advaitha Vedanta. During these sojourns, Shankaracharya single-handedly unified the geographical, spiritual, cultural and social fabric of India. On his last circuit, he merged with the supreme at Kedarnath in the Himalayas.
According to legends, Kerala woke up to the news of Shankara’s disappearance only a few years later. Udaya Marthanda Varma, the region’s monarch, believed to be Shankara’s friend, was devastated at the news. He summoned the scholars at Kollam to decide on a befitting honour to immortalize Shankaracharya. They initiated a completely new calendar from that very day as the Kollam Varsham (year); the first day of Avani (lunar month); 17 August of 825 AD according the Gregorian calendar. Kerala celebrates its new year on this day of the lunar calendar. Incidentally, the murthi of Sri Krishna was consecrated at Sree Padmanabhaswami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram on the 5th day of Kollam era (5.1.1).
Kalady’s physical existence was obscured for nearly eleven centuries. A divine force steered the 33rd Acharya of Sringeri Peetham, Jagadguru Sri Sachidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswami (1858–1912) to rediscover Kalady and restore its historical and spiritual supremacy. Kalady is documented in the numerous Shankara Vijayas authored by the Acharyas of Sringeri Peetham and the early history of Travancore.
Jagadguru Sachidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati and Kalady
Considered a reincarnation of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya, Sri Sachidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswami’s life has many parallels with Adi Shankaracharya. Initiated into sanyasa in 1866 when he was just eight, the young pontiff displayed strong qualities of God connect and engaged in intense sadhana like his predecessors.
During his Vijay Yatras, the Mahaswami observed a growing spiritual disconnect and a decline in reverence for Adi Shankaracharya. He initiated the Shankara Jayanti celebrations to commemorate Adi Shankaracharya’s birth and reinforce his teachings. Puri, Dwarka and Badrinath Mutts too began celebrating Shankara Jayanti accordingly. Worldwide, Shankaracharya’s followers reverentially celebrate this day. In 1880, Mahaswami built an exclusive shrine for Shankaracharya at Sringeri.
A powerful intuition directed Mahaswami to revitalise Kalady. Madhaviya Shankara Digvijaya, written by the 12th Acharya of Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Jagadguru Sri Vidyaranya became his anchor. This 14th century poetic work of 1846 verses explicitly describes Adi Shankaracharya’s birthplace of Kalady including topographic details.
As a God-send, the Dewan of Mysore, Seshadri Iyer, an ardent devotee of the Peetham visited Sringeri to pay his respects. Seizing the opportunity, the Mahaswami shared his intentions with him. Without wasting time, Seshadri Iyer, accompanied by state officials headed to the Malabar region (in the State of Travancore) to locate Kalady. He discovered that there were three places named Kalady! Madhaviya Shankara Digvijaya’s description of Kalady; the Poorna river, the Vrishachaleswara temple (in Thrissur near Kalady) and other references pinned the location with precision to Shankaracharya’s birth place Kalady near Ernakulum.
Iyer returned to Sringeri to report his success to the Acharya. Overjoyed, Mahaswami was consumed with the thought of building a shrine for Shankaracharya at Kalady. He immediately arranged a five-day Shankara Jayanti celebration at Kalady, led by renowned scholar Pandit Nadukkaveri Srinivasa Shastri. Enthusiastic locals cleared the site where Shankara’s home once stood. Hundreds of devotees congregated for this special event.
Temple building is a mammoth task involving tremendous cost, time and labour. Time rolled by, Seshadri Iyer had passed on. Knowing great work faced obstacles, Mahaswami patiently waited for the right moment. In 1904, V.P. Madhav Rao, a venerated statesman became the Dewan of Travancore. In 1885 during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner at Shimoga near Sringeri, Madhav Rao had frequented Sringeri and interacted with the Acharya. The time had come to build the Kalady temple.
Mahaswami sent N. Srikanta Shastri, an official of Sringeri Math and A. Ramachandra Iyer, a retired judge from Mysore, to Travancore to convey his intention to Maharaja Padmanabhadasa Moolam Thirunal Balrama Varma and Dewan Madhav Rao. The team along with Dewan Madhav Rao carried out a reconnaissance of Kalady again. They concurred with the conclusions of Seshadri Iyer. In 1904 the Governor General of India had promulgated an Act for the preservation of antiquities and conservation of ancient monuments. Using the resolution to enable the mission, the Maharaja immediately ordered the acquisition of lands in Kalady on January 27, 1906. It said, “measures should be adopted for the preservation of the birthplace of Sri Shankaracharya, the great religious teacher and reformer whose name is held in veneration throughout India. It is situated in the village of Kalady. The locality is treated as sanketam, a place of sanctity”.
When the Sringeri officials appealed to the Maharaja with the Mahaswami’s desire, the Maharaja said nothing. His silence perplexed them. A few days later before departing to Sringeri, the Maharaja presented a plate full of offerings to the Mahaswami. Among them was something wrapped in silk. Smilingly Moolam Thirunal asked them to open it; it was the gift deed of the land in Kalady to Sringeri Peetham, along with 10,000 rupees (a very large amount at the time) to build a Shrine for Jagadguru Shankaracharya.
Mahaswami accelerated the epic task to build the shrines of Adi Shankaracharya and Goddess Sharadamba at Kalady. The construction was entrusted to two distinguished veteran engineers of the government of Mysore.
The Mahaswami’s Vijaya Yatra to Kalady
With strengthened resolve and enthusiasm, Sri Sachidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswami embarked on a Vijay Yatra to Kalady in March 1907. He traversed through Mysore State, Madras presidency and Thiruvananthapuram (the capital of Travancore). Knowing that the Mahaswami was heading to consecrate the temples of Shankaracharya and Sharadamba, devotees thronged to seek blessings and donations poured in.
The temples were ready for consecration; yet a thought lurked in the corner of Mahaswami’s mind. Was it the Kalady of Shankara that he had homed in on? He had camped at Peruvamboor, five kilometres away from the sacred town. The night before proceeding to Kalady for the consecration, Mahaswami had a dream. In the dream was a widow clad in a white sari; she told the swami’s attendants that she lives in Kalady under a tree and had come to invite the Mahaswami to Kalady. On waking up, the Mahaswami was deeply disturbed; seeing a widow in his dream, was this an inauspicious omen? When the officials came to escort him to Kalady, Mahaswami asked them to explain the topography of Kalady. Detailing every location, they said, there was an Asoka tree near the ghat believed to be the place where Aryamba was cremated. Locals revere this spot, circumambulate the tree, and light a lamp at a relic stone lamp near the tree. Hearing this, Mahaswami became ecstatic; it was the divine mother who had appeared in his dream to welcome him to Kalady. With gusto he readied himself to reach Kalady, the holy land of his master.
Though Kalady was forgotten by rest of the world, the locals had preserved the memory of Shankara, worshipping the places that were landmarks of his life. The bathing ghat, the Krishna temple which was his family deity, the place where mother Aryamba was cremated; the villagers regarded them all as sacrosanct.
As soon as Mahaswami crossed the Poorna river and came to the spot near the tree where mother Aryamba was cremated, he prostrated, paid obeisance and circumambulated the tree. He stood speechless, immersed in thoughts of Sri Shankaracharya. To this day, the relic stone lamp beside Aryamba’s Samadhi stands as a testimony to the ultimate sacrifice of a widowed mother in giving up her only child, for the greater good of the world.
The Consecration
Sri Sachidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswami consecrated the architecturally imposing temples of Sri Adi Shankaracharya and Goddess Sharadamba at Kalady on 21st February 1910. The panchaloha idols installed are similar to the idols in Sringeri. Thousands of devotees congregated at Kalady for this historic celebration.
Kalady became vibrant as a sacred pilgrim centre. Mahaswami stayed at Kalady for three months after the consecration. He composed several soul stirring hymns in praise of Kalady, Adi Shankaracharya and Goddess Sharadamba. He had all the works of Adi Shankaracharya published as Shankara Granthavali, to be easily accessible to everyone.
Successive Gurus and development of Kalady
Ever since its renascence, every successor of Sringeri Peetham has strived to develop Kalady; spiritual, scholastic and infrastructure. They have nurtured Kalady as a vital centre of Sanathana Dharma spreading the message of Advaitha Vedanta.
The 34th pontiff Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswami, an exalted yogi revered as a Jeevan Muktha enabled further developments in Kalady. He mandated that daily worship conform to Vedic tradition, priests and scholars from Sringeri were sent to Kalady to meticulously conduct events like Shankara Jayanti and other festivals. Fulfilling a long time desire of his Guru, a residential Yajurveda Patashala was instituted, he initiated Vedanta Shastra exams to spread the awareness of Advaitha Vedanta.
On reaching Kalady in 1927, his first visit to the holy town, Sri Chandrashekhara Bharathi Mahaswami walked without his padukas revealing his intense reverence to Adi Shankaracharya. During this visit the village witnessed tremendous progress in infrastructure; improved roads, pathway to river Poorna, a building for the Vedanta Patashala amongst others. An imposing arch with the Sanskrit inscription declaring it to be Shankara’s birthplace was built in the renovated agrahara where the Master once lived. Kalady was transformed, Vedic chants reverberated in the lanes of Kalady.
Kalady beckoned Sri Chandrashekhara Bharathi Mahaswami again, his ten-month stay there in 1939 became the longest by any Sringeri Acharya. He authored an exceptional commentary on Shankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani and composed Kalady Kshetra Stotram, describing the holy land.
In 1956 the 35th Acharya Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswami visited Kalady for the first time for chaturmasya and Navratri celebrations. There after he visited Kalady fifteen times. In 1965, in a significant celebration, the heads of Sringeri, Puri, Dwarka and Badrinath mutts established by Adi Shankaracharya met at Kalady.
Within a few months of his anointment to the Peetha, the 36th Acharya, Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami along with his Guru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswami visited Kalady in 1975. Numerous visits followed thereafter; in 1984, the two Acharyas celebrated 75 years of Kalady’s renaissance by observing Chaturmasya and performing the Kumbhabhisheka of the Sharadamba and Adi Shankaracharya temples.
Cognizant of the critical need for education, Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami was instrumental in establishing several educational institutions at Kalady. Under the Sringeri Math’s patronage, a Rig-Veda Patashala, Ayurveda Medical College, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Teachers Training College and schools were established in Shankara and Goddess Sharada’s names.
Sri Vidushekara Bharati Mahaswami, the 37th Acharya of the Sringeri Peetham follows his Guru, Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami, in fostering and safeguarding Kalady. His first visit to Kalady in 2010 with his Guru, prior to his anointment to the Peetham had a profound impact on him. Kalady’s role as an intense knowledge center is intrinsically embedded within Shankaracharya’s tradition, a hallmark of which is its strong guru-shishya legacy. “As a brahmachari I had accompanied my guru on his Vijaya Yatras in 2012. He taught us Chaturdashalakshani as part of the study of Tarka Shastra. Upon arriving at Kalady my Guru said, ‘Kalady and Sringeri are like our two eyes”, the Acharya recalls.
In his message to devotees of Shankara, Sri Bharati Teertha Mahaswami says, “a Yatra to Kashi and a Yatra to Kalady are of equal importance. Just as Kashi is located on the banks of the holy Ganga, Kalady Kshetram is located on the banks of the holy Poorna river. Lord Vishweshwara of Kashi pervades Kalady in the form of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. Every Hindu should visit Kalady at least once in his lifetime. This land is sanctified by Adi Shankaracharya, an incarnation of Lord Shiva”.
Conclusion
Shankaracharya’s philosophy became the enduring bedrock of spiritual existence for seekers of the Supreme, transcending geographical barriers. Schopenhauer of Germany, Comte of France and Emerson of the United States to mention a few were impacted by his doctrine. The significance of Shankaracharya’s philosophy and teachings are evident with the increasing acceptance of his doctrine world over even to this day.