Sharadamba Temple, Sringeri
ಶಾರದಾಂಬಾ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ, ಶೃಂಗೇರಿ
Why this temple matters
On the banks of the Tunga river, the goddess Sharada presides over the southern seat that tradition holds Adi Shankara himself established — a temple town that is at once a shrine to learning and the head of an unbroken lineage of Advaita teachers.
History
Sringeri is revered as the first of the four cardinal seats — the amnaya peethams — that Adi Shankaracharya is said to have established in the eighth century to guard the teaching of Advaita, the philosophy of non-duality. Set on the banks of the Tunga in the Western Ghats, it became the Dakshinamnaya, the southern seat, and the head of a lineage of Jagadgurus that continues unbroken to the present. Tradition holds that Shankara installed here an image of Sharada, the goddess of learning, and appointed his disciple as the first pontiff. Over the centuries Sringeri drew the patronage of the Vijayanagara empire — whose very founding sages, Vidyaranya among them, are tied to this seat — and grew into one of the foremost centres of Sanskrit learning and Vedic scholarship in India, a role it holds to this day.
Architecture
Two temples define Sringeri. The Sharadamba temple enshrines the goddess Sharada, worshipped as the giver of knowledge; the sandalwood image that tradition attributes to Shankara was in later centuries replaced by a golden image, set in a shrine of quiet dignity beside the river. Close by stands the Vidyashankara temple, one of the most remarkable monuments of southern India, built in the fourteenth century under Vijayanagara. It fuses the Hoysala and Dravidian styles, and its hall is carried on twelve carved pillars — the raashi stambhas — arranged so that the rising sun falls on the pillar of the zodiac sign of each month, a feat of astronomical design worked into sacred stone. Together the shrines, the ghats descending to the Tunga, and the surrounding matha make Sringeri a temple town shaped equally by worship and by learning.
Legends
The founding legend of Sringeri is among the gentlest in Indian tradition. Adi Shankara, wandering in search of a place to establish his seat, is said to have come upon a cobra spreading its hood to shelter a frog in labour from the midday sun on the bank of the Tunga. Reading in this the natural harmony of the place — where even sworn enemies set enmity aside — he chose it for his southern seat. The name Sringeri is linked to the nearby hill of the sage Rishyashringa. The Tunga's waters are held so pure that a saying couples them with the Ganga's for bathing; and the goddess Sharada, seated with her book and her vina, makes the town a place pilgrims come to seek not wealth but wisdom, blessing children at the start of their learning.
Festivals
Navaratri is the supreme festival of Sringeri, when the goddess Sharada is worshipped through nine nights with music, procession, and scholarly assembly, culminating on Vijayadashami — an especially auspicious day here for beginning a child's education. Shankara Jayanti, marking the birth of Adi Shankara, is central to the seat's calendar, as are the Rathotsava car festival and Vasantotsava in spring. Throughout the year the daily worship of Sharada and the teaching and debate of the matha carry on, so that the festivals crown a life of continuous learning rather than interrupting it.
The Experience
Sringeri rewards an unhurried visit. The setting in the wooded Western Ghats, the Tunga flowing clear past the ghats where tame fish gather, and the calm of the matha give the town an atmosphere of study and repose. Take darshan of Sharadamba, seek out the Vidyashankara temple and stand among its zodiac pillars, and sit a while by the river. Sringeri pairs naturally with the temple towns and coffee country of Chikkamagaluru district, and lies within reach of Udupi and the Karnataka coast, making it a fitting stop on a journey through the sacred and scholarly heart of the region.