K.A.Viswanathan

The only temple in India dedicated solely to saint Adi Sankara

In the year 1939 a Vedic pundit from Chennai by name  Subramania Sastrigal  who was  an ardent devotee of Adi Sankaracharya , came to Mumbai for lively hood. Even as he was earning his living in Mumbai as a Vedic pundit , guiding people in their performance of various religious rites, he started getting repeated dreams of Adi Sankara urging him to start a centre to help people learn , understand and practice the teachings enshrined in the Vedas, Upanishads and Shastras. Adi Sankara  lived over 2500 years ago.

Shastrigal became restless and finally he went to Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu to  take the advice from then the chief Seer of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal who advised him to start Veda classes on Adwaita philosophy as propounded by Adi Sankara. Thus the Sankara Mattam at Matunga came into existence. Today the Sankara Mattham is 75 years old.

The year 1943 was an important year in the history of the Mattham when Dr. Kulapati M.Munshi the founder of Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan was looking  out for a learned scholar to head Bhavan’s activities in Bombay. One Shri Venkateswara Dikshidar a great scholar was going to Jaipur from Tirupati to head the Sanskrit Patasala there. When Dr. Munshi came in contact with the dikshidar , he asked him to join the Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan and also to Sri Sankara Mattham  as its President. Dikshidar who was with Sankara Mattham for 23 years was ably supported by Sri .B.Narayanaswami , a leading advocate and father of Justice .B.N.Srikrishna .

The Kanchi acharya presented the mutt with a Bhana Lingam, the Panchayatanam and Sandalwood Acharya Padukas. The Shringari Acharya blessed with Mattham with a Ganapathi idol and Saligramam for daily pooja. In the year , 1959, Shri M.Venkatramaiah, a great devotee of of Venkateswara  Dikshitar presented the Marble idol of Adi Sankara which is the main idol of the mutt , today.

The Sankara Mattham is the only temple in India  where the main idol is Adi Sankara. It is also the only temple where both the acharyas of Kanchi and Shringeri visit every year said  the secretary of the Mattham Mr.S.Sivasubramanian.

Under the presidentship of  B.Narayanaswamy the present temple was consecrated in May 1978 ,by the Sankaracharya of  Dwaraka Peetham Sri Abhinava Sachchidananda Teertha Swamiji and the first Kumbhabhishekam was performed.

Since then the Mattham besides conducting regular Vedic and Sanskrit classes .supports centres for Vedic learnings in places like Viluppuram in Tamil Nadu and Pandharpur in Maharashtra. More than 5000 students has so far benefited in learning Vedas from the Mutt.

Under the guidance of the Mattham , nearly 39 vidhyarthis are learning Yajur and Saama Vedas in Sri Vithal Rukmani Veda patasala in Pandharpur. The examinations are conducted at Kanchi Mutt’s Veda Rakshana Nidhi trust.

The Mattham also supports Veda Samrakshana Samithi in Palakkad , Kerala, Srouta Veda Patashala  in Deulgaonraja in Maharashtra, Yadneshwar prathisthan Veda Sastra Patasala in Parbhani and Rig Veda patashala in Tamil Nadu and Gurukulams in Kumbakonam , Parbhani and Pune.

Besides the above the Mattham also gives a monthly pensions to 31 Vedic Pandits and Agnihotris who gets a monthly pension  of Rs.5000 each. Most of the pundits are over 75 years of age. It also gives Adi Sankara Award every year to a learned scholar in Sanskrit . It carries a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh and a citation.

The last Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted this year in the month of June in the presence of the Kanchi Seer Sri Jayendra Saraswati.