Purvamnaya Sri Govardhana Peetham or Govardhan Math is one amongst the four cardinal
peethams established by the philosopher-saint Bhagwan
Adi Shankaracharya
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
to preserve and propagate
Sanatana Dharma and
Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
, the doctrine of
non-dualism
Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffe ...
. Located in
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...
in
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, it is the Eastern Āmnāya Pītham amongst the four Chaturamnaya Peethams, with the others being the
Sringeri Śārada Pīṭhaṃ (Karnataka) in the South,
Dvārakā Śāradā Pītham (Gujarat) in the West, and
Badari Jyotirmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ (Uttarakhand) in the North.
It is associated with the
Jagannath
Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...
temple.
Their Vedantic mantra or
Mahavakya is ''Prajñānam brahma (Consciousness is supreme being) and'' as per the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara it holds authority over Rig Veda. The head of the matha is called
Shankarayacharya, the title derives from
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
.
The deities here are Jagannath (Lord Vishnu) and the devi is
Vimala Vimala may refer to:
People
* U Vimala (1899–1962), Burmese Buddhist monk
* Vimalakka (born 1964), Indian balladeer
*Vimala Devi (born 1932), Indian writer
* Vimala Raman, Indian dancer
*Vimala Rangachar, cultural activist
* Vimala Thakar (1921 ...
(Bhairavi). There are Shri Vigrahas of ''Govardhananatha Krishna'' and ''Ardhanareshvara Shiva'' installed by Adi Shankara.
The whole of the Eastern part of the Indian subcontinent is considered as the territory of Sri Govardhan Peeth. This includes the Indian states of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
,
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
,
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
till Rajamundry,
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
,
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
,
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
,
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
,
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
,
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
,
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
,
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
,
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...
,
Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
, and
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
till Prayag. The countries
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
as well as the
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n and
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
an regions, are also considered spiritual territory of the math.
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...
,
Prayagraj
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
,
Gaya and
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
are some of the holy places under this Math.
Background
Govardhana matha is one of four cardinal institutions established by
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
(c. 8th century CE), regarded by later tradition as the reviver of Vedic
Sanatana Dharma.
[Pasricha, Prem C. (1977) The Whole Thing the Real Thing, Delhi Photo Company, p. 59-63] Shankara's four principal disciples,
Padma-Pada,
Hasta-Malaka,
Vartika-Kara or Sureshvara and
Totakacharya
Totakacharya (IAST ') 8th century CE) was a disciple of Ādi Śaṅkara, the Advaita Vedanta teacher. He was made the first Jagadguru (''head'') of the Jyotir Pīthaṃ, the original northern maṭha founded by Ādi Śaṅkara in Uttarakhand. ...
were assigned to these four learning centers in the north, south, east and west of India.
[Love and God, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1973 p. 9] The subsequent leaders of each of these four monasteries are known as Śaṅkarāchāryas in honor of the math's founder, Adi Shankara.
[Unknown author (2005]
Indology
The Jyotirmaṭha Śaṅkarācārya Lineage in the 20th Century, retrieved 4 August 2012 As such they are the leaders of the Daśanāmī Saṃnyāsins who are considered to have custody of Advaita Vedānta
These four principle seats of learning are located in Purī (Odisha), Śṛṅgeri (Karnataka) and Dvārakā (Gujarat) with
the northern (Uttarāmnāya) monastery being located in the city of Jyotirmaṭh (also known as Joṣīmaṭh).
History
Padmapadacharya
Padmapadacharya was an Indian philosopher, a follower of Adi Shankara.
Padmapāda's dates are unknown, but some modern scholarship places his life around the middle of the 8th century; similarly information about him comes mainly from h ...
became the first leader of the matha. The matha has historical connections with the Jagannath temple, which is also located in Puri.
It is called the Govardhanathatha, and has sub-location called the Sankarananda Math.
Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha
Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Bharatikrishna Tirtha (IAST: Jagadguru Śaṅkarācārya Svāmī Bhāratīkṛṣṇa Tīrtha) (1884–1960), born Venkataraman Shastri (IAST: Veṅkatarāmaṇ Śāstrī), was an Indian Hindu monk and Shankar ...
, who was then the leader at the Dvaraka matha, assumed the leadership position at the Govardhana matha in 1925; Shankara Prushottama Tirtha supervised the Matha on his behalf while he visited the
Self Realization Fellowship
Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide New religious movement, spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and legally incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in 1935, to serve as Yogananda's instrume ...
in the USA.
After Bharati attained Mahasamadhi in 1960, Yogeswaranda Tirtha succeeded him who also attained Mahasamadhi a year later in 1961. In 1964, after a "period of uncertainty" Niranjana Deva Tirtha, a disciple named in Bharati's will, was installed by Aghinava Saccindananda Tirtha of Dvarka.
Nirnjana Deva Tirtha became known for his unpopular political views affecting the Hindu people. In 1992, he stepped down after nominating Niscalananda Saraswati as his successor.
[Unknown author (5 May 1999) archive]
here
(Accessed: 2012-08-30) o
The Monastic Tradition Advaita Vedanta web page, retrieved 28 August 2012
Niscalananda Saraswati was born in Darbhanga in 1943, the son of the raj-Pandita of
Maharaja of Darabhanga. He decided to enter sanyasa while being a student in the
Tibbia College
The Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, also popularly known as Tibbia College, is an institution under the Government of Delhi, located at Karol Bagh in New Delhi, India. The institution which offers education and training in Ayurvedic and Unan ...
and spent time studying the shastras at Kashi,
Vrindavan
Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...
,
Naimisaranya
Naimisaranyam, also known as Neemsar, Nimsar or Nimkhar, and the Naimishnath Devaraja temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the ''Divya Desams'', the 108 temples of Vishnu r ...
,
Shringeri
Sringeri (IAST: Śṛngēri) also called Shringeri is a hill town and Taluk headquarters located in Chikkamagaluru district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the site of the first maṭha ( Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sharada Peetham) establis ...
etc. In 1974, he took diksha from
Swami Karpatri who gave him name Niscalananda.
On 11 February 2018 silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the pattabhisheka (coronation) of Swami Nischalananda Saraswati was celebrated in Puri in the presence of chief minister of Orissa
Naveen Patnaik
Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...
, former Nepal king
Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev
Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...
and
Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb of Puri.
Temple shut for king's visit
The Telegraph, 11 February 2018
Samudra Arati
The Samudra Arati
''Arti'' (Sanskrit: Ārātrika, Hindi: Ārtī) is a Hindu ritual employed in worship, often part of '' puja'', in which light (usually from a flame) is offered to one or more deities. ''Arti(s)'' also refers to the songs sung in praise of the d ...
is a daily tradition started by the present Shankaracharya 9 years ago. The daily practise includes prayer and fire offering to the sea at Swargadwara in Puri by disciples of the matha. On Paush Purnima of every year the Shankaracharya himself comes out to offer prayers to the sea.
See also
* Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
* Shankaracharya
Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , "Adi Shankara, Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi ...
* Kalady, Kerala - the holy birthplace of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya
* Dwarka Sharada Peetham (West), Dwarka, Gujarat
* Jyotirmath Peetham (North), Badrikashram, Uttarakhand
* Shri Sringeri Sharada Peetham (South), Sringeri, Karnataka
* Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu
*Shri Gaudapadacharya Mutt
Shri Gaudapadacharya Math ( sa, श्री संस्थान गौडपदाचार्य मठ, '), also known as (), located in Kavale, Ponda, Goa, is the oldest matha of the Smarthan Saraswat Brahman Samaj. It was founded by ...
*Gaudapada
Gauḍapāda (Sanskrit: गौडपाद; ), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya ("Gauḍapāda the Teacher"), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the ''Advaita'' Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details o ...
*Govinda Bhagavatpada
Govinda Bhagavatpada (IAST ) was the Guru of the Adi Shankara. Little is known of his life and works, except that he is mentioned in all the traditional accounts ( Shankara Vijayams) as the teacher of Adi Shankara. He was the disciple of Gaudapad ...
References
External links
YouTube Channel
Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Govardhana Matha
Hindu pilgrimage sites in India
Hindu organisations based in India
Shankaracharya mathas in India
Tourist attractions in Puri district
Mathas in Puri
Adi Shankara
Advaita Vedanta