General errors
Common misunderstandings held by lay public, like shankara authoring 100s of (oft contradictory) texts, being a hari-harAbheda-vAdI, a ShaNmata-sthApaka, etc.. are popularized by the “x-AmnAya” pITha-s/ maTha-s. Those specific claims are dismissed separately.
Besides this, there is risible confusion about shankara’s date, with some dating him to the BCE era.
shRngeri-maTha
vidhu-shekhara-bhAratI
shrI vidhushekhara bhAratI of shRngeri pITha spread canards about some “dhanAkarShaNa-yantra” and shankarachArya statue at a certain specific location in tirupati temple - TW
(I confirmed with those with intimate access to the said areas that this is false.)
vidyAraNya not sAyaNa’s bro!
The shRngeri tradition claims that the ministers sAyaNa and mAdhava were different from the mAdhava vidyAraNya and his younger brother.
विस्तारः (द्रष्टुं नोद्यम्)
… Tradition holds that Madhava was the elder of two brahmachari brothers, … Acharya bestowed upon Him (younger brother) sannyasa diksha in 1328 A.D., conferring the sacred name Sri Bharati Tirtha… Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji graciously initiated Madhava into sannyasa in 1331 A.D., bestowing upon Him the prophetic name Sri Vidyaranya. … two scholarly brothers, Madhava and Sayana—sons of Mayana of the Bharadwaja Gotra—approached the great sage seeking His divine blessings. … He graced the Vyakhyana Simhasana for a relatively brief period from 1380 to 1386 A.D.
kAnchi-maTha
varadarAja temple founding
kAnchi-maTha followers claim that shankara built the varadarAja perumAL temple, as it exists today -
Bhagavatpada Sankara got Kanchi city remodeled and also caused the reconstruction of the three principle temples of Kanchi viz., the temples of Sri Ekamranatha, Devi Kamakshi and Sri Varadaraja with the assistance of Rajasena, ruler of Kanchi.
TW
They take a certain sculpture of a yati doing namaskAra to vyAsa as proof.
However, the said engraving is found in pillar in a maNDapa which was built post-aurangzeb invasion, by famous uttaradhimath sishyas Sri krishnaji panth, Sri Babu raya of 18th century; as per records and clear inscriptions (including one from satyanAtha tIrtha).
The pillar itself clearly shows (TW) -
- rAma + hanumanta
- kRShNa + bhIma
- vyAsa + a yati (presumably madhva)
- 2 (mAdhva) yatis (satyapUrNa, satyavijaya) + kRShNAjI pant divAn.
kAnchI followers however happily ignore evidence.
bellamkonDa-rAma-rAya
An initiate (not a convert, as claimed) into shAnkarAdvaita named bellamkoNDa rAmarAya (supposedly a “kavIndra”, haygrIvopAsaka etc..).
Criticism of rāmarāya for going against śaṅkarabhāṣya and brahmasūtra and for misrepresenting bhedābheda as viśiṣṭādvaita (6.30 and 19.50) -
TW इति कस्यचन शाङ्कर-विदुष एव भाषणम्।