Sringeri (IAST: Śṛngēri) is a hill town and Taluk headquarters located in Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka. It is the site of the first maṭha (Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sharada Peetham) established by Adi Sankara, Hindu theologian, and exponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, in the 8th century CE.

The name Sringeri is derived from Rishyashringa-giri, a nearby hill that is believed to have had the hermitage of Rishi Vibhandaka and his son Rishyashringa. In an episode mentioned in the Balakanda of the Ramayana, Vasishtha narrates how Rishyashringa brought rains to the drought-stricken kingdom of Romapada.

Sringeri, regarded as the “seat of learning,” was the first Advaita matha that Adi Sankara founded. A matha is more than an ashram. It is the home of a pre-eminent spiritual leader, a theological seminary and training school for priests, a library of rare texts, and often, as in the case of Sringeri, includes several ancient famed temples. Advaita here refers to the non-dualist teachings of Adi Sankara.

The period of Adi Sankara’s birth was an age of unrest and strife characterized by spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy and also political and social discord. Religion in India, based on the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Epics, the Puranas, and the Sutras, was seriously challenged by atheism, agnosticism, and nihilism. Sanatana Dharma was in danger due to vamachara or tantric practices of the debased offshoots of the originally pure Jain, Buddhist, and Shakta cults. Adi Sankara accepted the worship of six divine forms – Siva, Devi, Vishnu, Surya, Ganapati, and Kumara. For having brought the devotees of these six divine forms under the banner of one faith, he has rightly been called Sanmata-sthapaka”.