Medieval Philosophy and Temple Architecture

Is your inner self identical to ultimate reality, part of it, or forever separate from it? Three medieval philosophers gave three different answers to this one question. Each still has followers today. While they argued, builders across India were answering a different question: what should a temple actually look like?

The Vidyashankara Temple at Sringeri, part of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham — one of the four mathas linked to Adi Shankara. Photo by Calvinkrishy, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Three Answers to One Question

AncHist0024

c. 700–750 CE

Shankara Teaches Advaita

Soul and Brahman are one

By Tradition

Four Mathas Founded

One in each corner of India

c. 11th–12th C.

Ramanuja’s Vishishtadvaita

Brahman has real qualities

c. 1238–1317

Madhva’s Dvaita

God and soul stay eternally distinct

Meanwhile, North

Nagara Style Rises

Curved shikhara towers

Meanwhile, South

Dravida Style Rises

Stepped, pyramidal vimana towers

Same question, three answers: is the soul identical to Brahman, part of it, or forever separate? Each philosopher answered differently — and each answer still has followers today.

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📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Shankara’s Non-Dual Answer
3The Four Mathas
4Ramanuja’s Answer
5Madhva’s Third Answer
6Temples of the Same Era
7The Wider Story
8Test Yourself

Timeline

c. 700–750 CE: Adi Shankara teaches Advaita Vedanta, though older sources once dated him to 788–820 CE.
By tradition: Shankara establishes four mathas, one in each corner of India.
c. 1017–1137 CE (traditional dates): Ramanuja develops Vishishtadvaita at Srirangam.
c. 1238–1317 CE: Madhvacharya teaches Dvaita, a fully dualist philosophy.
Alongside this philosophy: Nagara-style temples rise across the north.
Alongside this: Dravida-style temples rise across the south.
In the Deccan: the Vesara style blends elements of both traditions.

Shankara’s Non-Dual Answer Need to Know

Adi Shankaracharya taught Advaita Vedanta, meaning “non-dualism.”
His core claim: the individual soul, or Atman, is identical to Brahman, ultimate reality.
He held that the world’s apparent diversity is Maya, an illusion covering this one underlying unity.
Modern scholars now date him to around 700–750 CE. Older sources once used 788–820 CE.
He studied under Govinda Bhagavatpada, and reportedly debated the scholar Mandana Mishra.
His most important work is the Brahmasutrabhashya, a commentary on the Brahma Sutras.

The Four Mathas Good to Know

By tradition, Shankara founded four mathas (monasteries), one in each corner of India.
These are at Dwarka in the west, Puri in the east, Sringeri in the south, and Jyotirmath in the north.

The four mathas traditionally linked to Adi Shankara, one in each corner of India. Base map by Milenioscuro, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; site markers added.

Each matha was assigned one of the four Vedas to preserve and teach.
Historians now question how much of this founding story is literally true.
The detailed legend of Shankara personally founding all four seems to date from the 14th century, centuries after his death.
The mathas themselves are real and still active institutions today, whatever their exact founding history.

Ramanuja’s Answer Need to Know

Ramanuja developed Vishishtadvaita, meaning “qualified non-dualism.”
He rejected Shankara’s idea of an attributeless Brahman.
For Ramanuja, Brahman has real qualities: omniscience, omnipotence, and boundless compassion.
He compared the relationship between souls and Brahman to a body and its soul.
In his view, the universe and individual souls form Brahman’s body, real and eternally distinct within it.
His major work, the Sri Bhashya, was composed at the Srirangam temple.
Ramanuja championed bhakti, or devotion, as a valid path to liberation, not intellectual insight alone.
Traditional dates give him a 120-year lifespan, from 1017 to 1137. Many historians now doubt this, proposing a more ordinary life of about 80 years instead.

Madhva’s Third Answer Good to Know

Madhvacharya, active in the 13th–14th century, proposed a third answer: Dvaita, or dualism.
He identified Brahman directly with the god Vishnu.
For Madhva, God, individual souls, and matter are three eternally separate realities.
Even a liberated soul, in his view, never merges with God. It remains distinct forever.
Dvaita stands at the opposite end from Shankara’s Advaita, with Ramanuja’s philosophy in between.

Temples of the Same Era Good to Know

While these debates unfolded, temple architecture also developed distinct regional styles.
The Nagara style, common in the north, is marked by a curved tower called a shikhara.
The Dravida style, common in the south, uses a stepped, pyramidal tower called a vimana.
The Vesara style blended elements of both, and is associated with the Deccan.
Each of these traditions has its own real depth, covered in dedicated Articles on this site.

The Wider Story Great to Know

These three philosophers each answered the same core question differently: how does the self relate to ultimate reality?
Ramanuja’s devotional theology fed directly into the wider Bhakti movement, covered in MedHist0011 — The Bhakti Movement.
For real depth on temple architecture, see ArtnCulture0032 — Nagara and Dravida and ArtnCulture0007 — The Vesara Style.
All three philosophical schools still have living followers and institutions today.