Birthdate of Shankaracharya Swami Brahmanand Saraswati
It is written that on Thursday, 21 December 1871 (Vikram Samvat 1928, Marg Shirsh Shukla Dasmi) in the village of Gana close to Ayodhya, Rajaram Mishra was born. After leaving home he stayed in his guru's ashram where he was known as Brahmachari Brahma Chaitanya. Later, in 1904 at the age of thirty-three years old, his guru initiated him as a sannyasi and gave him the name of Swami Brahmanand Saraswati. Much later, in April 1941, the title of Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math was conferred upon him.
Notes
1. In the Hindi biography of Guru Dev (Shri Jyotishpeethaddharaka by Shri Rameshwar Tiwari, published 1965) Guru Dev's birthdate is given as मार्गशीर्ष शुक्ल दशमी विक्रम सम्वत् 1928, 'maargashiirshha shukla dashamii, vikrama samvat 1928' i.e. Margashirsha 10th 1928, whilst the Western calendar date was then calculated to be 'December 21, 1870'.
2. Additionally, in 'Our Guiding Light'*, a profile of Guru Dev included in a book entitled 'The Beacon Light of the Himalayas', published 1955, it is stated by Bala Brahmachari Mahesh, later known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:- 'He was born on Margashirsh Shukla 10 Samvat 1928 (equivalent to December 1871)'.
3.
'The Beacon Light of the Himalayas', published 1955, reference to Guru
Dev's birthday celebrations in 1955, on 'Margasheersha Sukla
Dashmi the 24th December'.
4. A third source of information is a booklet published in 1949,
titled Kalyan-Path, produced by Brahmachari Shri Maheshji, in which he
gives the date of birth as; विक्रम संवत् १९२८ की मार्ग शीर्ष शुक्ल दशमी 'vikrama saMvat 1928 kii maarga sh 'vikrama saMvat 1928 kii maarga shiir* shukla dashamii' <Marg Shirsh Shukla Dashami of Vikram Samvat 1928>, which accords with the previous two references.
5. Shri Shankaracharya Upadesh issue 7th September 1953 p111, mention of birthdate of Maharaj being मार्ग शीर्श शुक्ल10, 'maarga shiirsha shukla 10'.
6. Shri Shankaracharya Upadesh
issue 5th November 1959 p12, the topic of Shri Brahmananda Jayantii,
the birthday of Shri Brahmananda, मार्ग शीर्ष शुक्ल पक्ष दशमी 'maarga shiirshha shukla pakSha dashamii'.
It is generally accepted that there is a difference of fifty-six / fifty-seven years between the Vikram and Gregorian calendars. Checking with the computer program Calendar Magic, the given Vikrami date of Margashirsh Shukla 10 Samvat 1928 is shown to correspond to Thursday 21st December 1871 in the Gregorian calendar.
* It is noted that in a revised and re-published text edition of 'Our Guiding Light' a birth date of 20th December 1868 is offered, but according to informed sources the discrepancy between the dates of 21st December 1871 and 20th December 1868 occurred due to a difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Saka calendar that created a 3yr inaccuracy, which when corrected restored the correct date of 21st December 1871.
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