Kalady - The Birth Place of Adi Shankara

Kalady is the birth place of the great Hindu saint Adi Shankara who lived between 788-820 AD.It was Adi Sankara who propounded the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta or non duality of the body and soul. He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra. As a child, Shankara showed remarkable scholarship, mastering the four Vedas by the age of eight.

At the age of 7, Shankara was inclined towards Sanyasa.There is an interesting story as to how Sankara got his mothers permission. While bathing in the river Poorna one day, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Shankara appealed to his mother, who had arrived at Poorna, asking for permission to become a sanyasi. His mother finally gave consent, only to have the crocodile let go of young Shankara. A crocodile had never been found in Poorna river before or since then.

Adi Sankara the length and breadth of India by foot propounding his philosophy of  Advaitha and participating in many debates against Hindu,Buddhist,Jain and other scholars and converting them to his philosophy. Adi Shankara founded four Mathas to guide the Hindu religion. These are at Sringeri Karnataka in the South, Dwaraka in Gujarat in the West, Puri in Orissa in the East, and Jyothirmath (Joshimath) inUttarakhand in the North. 

 Towards the end of his life, Adi Shankara traveled to the Himalayan region of Kedarnath-Badrinath and attained Videha Mukti  ("freedom from embodiment"). There is a Samadhir Mandir dedicated to Adi Shankara behind the Kedarnath temple.

Adi Shankara Janmabhoomi Kshetram

Architecture of the kshetram building - above & below

The Temple Office

The Sri Krishna Temple from outside- for history & legends log onto: http://srikrishnatemplekalady.org/

The Sri Krishna Temple - Front View as you enter

The traditional Kerala temple architecture

Side View of the Temple

The Purna River

Devotees having a dip - water level was considerably low

Another view of the Purna River

The Veda Patashala -  Students are taught Vedas here

Vedapatashala (School) Campus

The Sri Sankara Guest House where we spent a night-A/C rooms are available at reasonable rates