The following is based upon accounts known through oral tradition and texts like the Madhavlya Sankara Vijayam.There exists some controversy about Sankaras date, but most traditions are quite unanimous about other details.

Sankara was born to the nambudiri brahmana couple, Sivaguru and Aryamba, in a little village called Kaladi in Kerala. The couple had remained childless for a long time, and prayed for children at the Vadakkunnathan (Vrshacala) temple in nearby Trichur. Shiva is said to have appeared to the couple in a dream and promised them a choice of one son who would be short-lived but the most brilliant philosopher of his day, or many sons who would be mediocre at best. The couple opted for a brilliant, but short-lived son, and so Sankara was born.

Sankara lost his father when quite young, and his mother performed his upanayana ceremonies with the help of her relatives. Sankara excelled in all branches of traditional vaidika learning. A few miracles are reported about the young Sankara. As a brahmacarin, he went about collecting alms from families in the village. A lady who was herself extremely poor, but did not want to send away the boy empty-handed, gave him the last piece of Amla fruit she had at home. Sankara, sensing the abject poverty of the lady, composed a hymn (kanakadhara stavam) to Sree Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, right at her doorstep. As a result, a shower of golden Amlas rewarded the lady for her piety. On another occasion, Sankara is said to have re-routed the course of the Purna river, so that his old mother would not have to walk a long distance to the river for her daily ablutions.

Samnyasa:

Sankara was filled with the spirit of renunciation early in his life. Getting married and settling to the life of a householder was never part of his goal in life, though his mother was anxious to see him as a grhastha(married man). Once when he was swimming in the river, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Sankara sensed that he was destined to die at that moment, and decided to directly enter the fourth Asrama of samnyasa right then. This kind of renunciation is called Apat samnyasa. The crocodile released him when he thus mentally decided to renounce the world, and Sankara decided to regularize his decision by going to an accomplished guru. To comfort his anxious mother, he promised that he would return at the moment of her death, to conduct her funeral rites, notwithstanding the fact that he would be a sannyasi then.

Sankara then traveled far and wide in search of a worthy guru who would initiate him , till he came to the banks of the river Narmada in central India. Here was the Asrama of Govinda Bhagavatpada, the disciple of Gaudapada, the famous author of the Mandukya Karikas. Sankara was accepted as a disciple by Govinda, who initiated him into the paramahamsa order of samnyasa, the highest kind of renunciation. Seeing the intellectual acumen of his disciple, govinda commanded Sankara to expound the philosophy of vedanta through commentaries on the principal upanishads, the brahmasutras and the gita. Sankara took leave of his guru and traveled to various holy places in India, composing his commentaries in the meantime. At this time he was barely a teenager. He attracted many disciples around him, prominent among whom was Sanandana, who was later to be called Padmapada.

He restructured all the 72 forms of desultory religious practices into acceptable norms and laid stress on the six ways of worship based on Vedas. He discussed with many scholars during His long journeys in the country and was the cause for many philosophical treatises establishing the concept of Advaita, with commentaries on Brahma Sutras, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Ten Principal Upanishads and a few other works and poems in praise of various Vedic dieties.

In addition to writing his own commentaries, Sankara sought out leaders of other schools, in order to engage them in debate. As per the accepted philosophical tradition in India, such debates helped to establish a new philosopher, and also to win disciples and converts from other schools. It was also traditional for the loser in the debate to become a disciple of the winner. Thus Sankara debated with Buddhist philosophers, with followers of samkhya and with Purva Mimamsakas, the followers of vedic ritualism, and proved more than capable in defeating all his opponents in debate. Sankara then sought out Kumarila Bhatta, the foremost proponent of the Purva mimamsa in his age, but bhatta was on his deathbed and directed Sankara to Visvarupa, his disciple.

Sankara's debate with Visvarupa was unique. The referee at the debate was Visvarupa's wife, Bharati, who was herself very well-learned, and regarded as an incarnation of Goddess Sarasvati. At stake was a whole way of life. The agreement was that if Visvarupa won, Sankara would consent to marriage and the life of a householder, whereas if Sankara won, Visvarupa would renounce all his wealth and possessions and become a sannyasi disciple of Sankara. The debate is said to have lasted for whole weeks, till in the end, Visvarupa had to concede defeat and become a sannyasi. Bharati was a fair judge, but before declaring Sankara as the winner, she challenged Sankara with questions about kamasastra, which he knew nothing about. Sankara therefore requested some time, during which, using the subtle yogic process called Parakaya-Pravesa, he entered the body of a dying king and experienced the art of love with the queens. Returning to Visvarupa's home, he answered all of Bharati's questions, after which Visvarupa was ordained as a sannyasi by the name of Suresvara. He was to become the most celebrated disciple of Sankara, writing Varttikas to Sankara's Bhsshyas on the yajurveda upanishads, in addition to his own independent texts on various subjects.

Establishment of maThas:

Sankara continued to travel with his disciples all over the land, all the while composing philosophical treatises and engaging opponents in debate. In the course of his travels, Sankara stayed for a long time at the site of the old Asrama of the Rshis Vibhandaka and Rshyasrnga, in the place known as Sringeri. Some texts mention that Sankara stayed at Sringeri for twelve years. A hermitage grew around him here, which soon developed into a famous Matha (monastery). Suresvara, the disciple whom he had won after long debate, was installed as the head of this new ASrama. Similar mathas were established in the pilgrim centers of Puri, Dvaraka and Joshimath near Badrinath, and many more.

Meanwhile, Sankara heard that his mother was dying, and decided to visit her. Remembering his promise to her, he performed her funeral rites. His ritualistic relatives would not permit him to do the rites himself, as he was a sannyasi, but Sankara overrode their objections, and built a pyre himself and cremated his mother in her own backyard. After this, he resumed his travels, visiting many holy places, reviving pujas at temples that had fallen into neglect, establishing Sri yantras at Devi temples as in Kancipuram, and composing many devotional hymns.

In the course of his travels, Sankara reached Kashmir. Here was a temple dedicated to Sarasvati, the goddess of learning. It was a tradition for philosophers to visit the place and engage in debate. The victorious one would be allowed to ascend the sarvajnapitha. It is said that no philosopher from the southern region had ever ascended the pitha, till Sankara visited Kashmir and defeated all the others there. He then ascended the sarvajnapitha with the blessings of Goddess Sarasvati.

Sankara was reaching the age of 32 now. He had expounded the vedanta philosophy through his writings; he had attracted many intelligent disciples to him, who could carry on the vedantic tradition; and he had established monastic centers for them in the form of mathas. His had been a short, but eventful life. He retired to the Himalayas and disappeared inside a cave near Kedarnath. This cave is traditionally pointed out as the site of his samadhi. Other variant traditions place Sankara's last days at Karavirpitham or at Mahur in Maharashtra, Trichur in Kerala or Kancipuram in Tamil Nadu. It is a measure of Sankaracarya's widespread fame that such conflicting traditions have arisen around his name.

SankarAcArya is arguably the most important philosopher in the history of advaita. The story of Sankaras life is recounted in traditional works called Sankara Vijayams. Sankaracarya's guru, Govinda-Bhagavatpada, was a disciple of Gaudapada. Just as SankarAcArya is considered to be an incarnation of Siva, Govinda is popularly regarded as an incarnation of Adisesha.

Books written by Sankara for certain are:

• The commentary Bhasya on the Brahma Sutra
• The commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad
• The commentary on the Taittiriya Upanishad
• The Thousand Teachings or Upadesasahasri
• A hymn to the Goddess Saundaryalahari
• Benedictory invocation to Siva and Sakti, namely Sivanandalahari

Books he probably wrote are:

• The commentary on Gaudapada's Karika to the Mandukya Upanishad