Literally the benevolent; one of the many names of Shiva. Also refers to Adi Shankaracharya, believed to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva the celebrated ninth century teacher of Advaita Vedanta and the founder of 1st neo-monastic orders. In his life of thirty-two years, he travelled several times throughout India and was responsible for the renaissance of the Hindu tradition. He also wrote extensive commentaries on Vedic Scriptures like Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Vedanta Sutra and also composed devotional works like Bhaja Govindam.