Aadi Sankaracharya established the Sarada Peetham here in the 1st millennium CE, and installed an image of Sarada with a Sri Chakra in front of her, and started the Bharati Sampradaya to propagate the philosophy of non dualism. Sankara's disciple Sureshwaracharya was the first head of the Sringeri Peetham.
Vidyashankara of Vidyathirtha, who was the head of this Peetham for a period of 105 years from 1228 CE to 1333 CE is considered to be one of the greatest Gurus of this Peetham.
Vidyaranya who headed the peetham from 1331 CE to 1386 CE was another extraordinary leader, who was instrumental in the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire, which not only offered stiff resistance to the onslaught of destruction from the invading foreign armies, but also caused the flowering of literary works and great monuments throughout South India andthe preservation of the ancient temple traditions.
The Vidyashankara temple at Sringeri was built in memory of Guru Vidyashankara or Vidyathirtha by Vidyaranya, with the aid of the Vijayanagar rulers in the 14th century. The golden image of Sarada was also installed then at the Sarada temple. The temple also houses ruby images of Venugopala and Srinivasa and a Nandi made out of a large pearl. Several inscriptions are seen in the temple, describing contributions made by the Vijayanagar emperors.
This temple combines the Hoysala and Dravida architectural features. It stands on a richly sculptured basement. There are six doorways leading into the temple. The twelve pillars in the mandapam are named the Raasi pillars, and are so arranged that the sun's rays fall on each of them, in the order of the solar months.
