01Four seats, four Vedas
Adi Shankaracharya set four mathas at the four quarters of Bharat and gave each a Veda, a mahavakya and a disciple to lead it: Sringeri in the south with the Yajurveda, Puri in the east with the Rigveda, Jyotirmath in the north with the Atharvaveda, and Dwarka in the west with the Samaveda and the great saying of the Chandogya Upanishad, Tat tvam asi, That thou art. The Mathamnaya names Hastamalaka, the silent boy whose verses on the Self are still recited, as the first acharya at Dwarka. Sannyasis of the Tirtha and Ashrama names of the Dashanami order belong to this seat.
02The Shankaracharyas of Dwarka
The matha stands a few steps from the Dwarkadhish temple, with a shrine whose dome carries carvings of Shiva. In the 20th century its acharyas included Bharati Krishna Tirtha, who led it from 1921 before going to Puri in 1925. Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, who as a young sannyasi had been jailed in the Quit India movement, held the seat from 1982 until his death on 11 September 2022; Swami Sadanand Saraswati succeeded him.
The life of this place
- 1921Bharati Krishna Tirtha becomes Shankaracharya of Dwarka.
- 1982Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati takes the seat.
- 2022After Swaroopanand Saraswati’s death on 11 September, Swami Sadanand Saraswati succeeds him.
The matha is beside the Dwarkadhish temple; visit after darshan of Dwarkadhish. Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti in Vaishakha is the great day here.
