Adi Shankaracharya birth anniversary to be celebrated as Philosopher’s Day

The government is set to give a final nod to celebrating philosopher Adi Shankaracharya birth anniversary as Philosopher’s Day from next year.

Government has accepted a proposal sent by the Sringeri Math, established by the Shankaracharya in the 8th century in Karnataka.
Culture ministry is in favour of promoting Shankaracharya’s commentary on the Upanishads and his role in generating awareness about Indian philosophy.
The ministry need to recognise and promote valuable contributions made by Sri Adi Sankara to the country through his doctrine of Advaita (non-dualism).
Thereafter, according to culture ministry officials, the PMO had asked the ministry to look into the proposal.
The mutt has been writing to the Centre every year, since 1996, but it was for the first time that the Centre had acknowledged the letter and taken note of the proposal.
While Kerala and Karnataka had accepted the Mutt’s proposal in 2005, after constant reminders, the Uttarakhand government which has several Hindu shrines had never replied to it.

It is believed that the Adi Shankaracharya conceived the idea of “Char Dham”, which means four holy destinations of God in the four directions in India — Badrinath, Rameshwaram, Puri and Dwarka.
Adi Shankara was the one who reunited fragmented Hinduism.
He travelled all over India on foot and in each town he had philosophical discussions with scholars.
He was the first to think and speak of India as one entity.
The Mutt has suggested readings of the Shankaracharya’s commentary on Upanishads, chanting of his stotras and studying his principles of Advaita Vedanta and works of other Indian philosophers as part of his birthday celebrations, which falls in the Vaisakha month of the Hindu Calendar, around April.