The Four Mathas of Adi Shankara
The four monastic seats (mathas) traditionally founded by Adi Shankaracharya at India's four cardinal points, each heading one of the four Vedas.
Significance & tradition
Each matha's head, called a Shankaracharya, is traditionally regarded as the continuing spiritual authority for that region and Veda. Together the four mathas are often cited as one of Adi Shankaracharya's most consequential legacies — a durable institutional structure for Advaita Vedanta that persists into the present.
History
Tradition dates their founding to the 8th century CE. A fifth matha at Kanchipuram (Kamakoti Peetham) is also claimed by some lineages as part of the same founding project — a genuine point of sectarian disagreement this list doesn't try to settle, which is why it keeps to the four most widely and uncontroversially cited seats.
How this list was compiled
An exhaustive list of the four seats agreed across essentially all traditions.