 Govardhan Math logo | |
 Govardhan Math Entrance Gate | |
| Founder | Adi Shankara |
|---|---|
| Type | Religious |
| Location |
|
First Shankaracharya | Padmapadacharya |
Present Shankaracharya | Nishchalananda Saraswati |
| Website | govardhanpeeth.org |
Purvamnaya Sri Govardhana Pitham orGovardhan Math (ଗୋବର୍ଦ୍ଧନ ମଠ) is one amongst the four cardinalpithams established by the philosopher-saintAdi Shankara to preserve and propagateHinduism andAdvaita Vedanta, the doctrine of non-dualism, is Located inPuri inOdisha,India ,
it is the Eastern Āmnāya Pītham amongst the four pithams, with the others being
theSringeri Śārada Pīṭhaṃ (Karnataka) in the South,
theDvārakā Śāradā Pītham (Gujarat) in the West, and
theBadari Jyotirmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ (Uttarakhand) in the North[1].
It is associated with theJagannath temple.[2] Their Vedantic mantra, orMahavakya, isPrajñānam brahma (Consciousness is supreme being), and as per the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara, it holds authority over theRigveda. The head of the matha is called Shankaracharya; the title derives fromAdi Shankara .
The deity here is Jagannath (Vishnu),and the goddess isVimala (Bhairavi). There are Shri Vigrahas ofGovardhananatha Krishna andArdhanareshvara Shiva installed by Adi Shankara.[3]
The whole of the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent is considered the territory of Sri Govardhan Peeth.[4] This includes the Indian states ofBihar,Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,Andhra Pradesh till Rajamundry,Odisha,West Bengal,Assam,Arunachal Pradesh,Manipur,Nagaland,Sikkim,Meghalaya,Telangana,Tripura,Mizoram, andUttar Pradesh till Prayag. The countriesNepal,Bangladesh, andBhutan, as well as theSoutheast Asian andTibetan regions, are also considered spiritual territory of the math.Puri,Prayagraj,Gaya, andVaranasi are some of the holy places under this Math.
According to tradition, as established in 415 BC, Govardhana Matha is one of four cardinal institutions established byAdi Shankara (c. 8th century CE), regarded by later tradition as the reviver of VedicHinduism.[5] Shankara's four principal disciples,Padma-Pada,Hasta-Malaka,Vartika-Kara or Sureshvara, andTotakacharya, were assigned to these four learning centers in the north, south, east, and west of India.[6]
The subsequent leaders of each of these four monasteries are known as Śaṅkarāchāryas in honor of the math's founder, Adi Shankara.[7] As such, they are the leaders of the Daśanāmī Saṃnyāsins who are considered to have custody of Advaita Vedānta[7] These four principal seats of learning are located in
Purī (Odisha), Śṛṅgeri (Karnataka), and Dvārakā (Gujarat), with[7] the northern (Uttarāmnāya) monastery being located in the city of Jyotirmaṭh (also known as Joṣīmaṭh).[7]
Padmapadacharya became the first leader of the math. The matha has historical connections with the Jagannath temple, which is also located in Puri.[2] It is called the Govardhanatha Math and has a sub-location called the Shankarananda Math.
Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, who was then the leader at the Dwarka Math, assumed the leadership position at the Govardhan Math in 1925; Shankara Purushottama Tirtha supervised the Math on his behalf while he visited theSelf Realization Fellowship in the USA.[2] After Bharati attained Mahasamadhi in 1960, Yogeshwarananda 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 Anhinava Sachchindananda Tirtha of Dwarka.[2] Niranjana Deva Tirtha became known for his unpopular political views affecting the Hindu people.[8] In 1992, he stepped down after nominating Nishchalananda Saraswati as his successor.[2][9]
Nishchalananda Saraswati was born in Darbhanga in 1943, the son of the raj-Pandita ofthe Maharaja of Darabhanga.[10] He decided to enter sanyasa while being a student at theTibbia College and spent time studying the shastras at Kashi,Vrindavan,Naimisharanya,Shringeri, etc. In 1974, he took diksha fromSwami Karpatri, who gave him the name Nishchalananda.
On 11 February 2018 silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the pattabhisheka (coronation) of Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati was celebrated in Puri in the presence of chief minister of OrissaNaveen Patnaik, former Nepal kingGyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev; andGajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb of Puri.[11]
The SamudraArati is a daily tradition started by the present Shankaracharya 9 years ago.[3] The daily practise includes prayer and fire offering to the sea at Svargadvara in Puri by disciples of the matha. On Paush Purnima of every year the Shankaracharya himself comes out to offer prayers to the sea.
