The Advaita Vedānta Monastic Tradition of Nampūtiri Brahmins in Kerala: Tracing the Order’s History in the Inscriptional Evidence

Abstract

Abstract This article attempts to reconstruct the origins of the Nampūtiri Advaita Vedānta maṭhas in Kerala, which constitute an independent vernacular variant of Śaṅkaran monasticism. The early history of the Nampūtiri monastic centres of Kerala still remains very much obscure. This article aims to fill the lacuna and propose a working hypothesis of order in question, tracing its sources to the local institution of a ‘temple saṃnyāsin’, referred to in the Keralan epigraphs as bhaṭāra-tiruvaṭi or paḻāra-tiruvaṭi. In order to reconstruct the early history of the local monastic tradition, I focus primarily on the available inscriptional material, which I discuss at length in the latter part of the article, that follows the elaborate description of the vernacular sampradāya based on the ethnographic material, constituting foundation for integrating the epigraphic evidence.