Trotakacharya (IAST Troţakācārya) (c. 8th century CE) was a disciple of Adi Shankara, the Advaita philosopher. He was made the first Jagadguru (head) of the Jyotirmatha Peetham, the northern matha founded by Adi Shankara near Badrinath. He founded a matha by name Vadakke Matham in Thrissur, Kerala.
Meeting Adi Sankara.
The Mādhavīya Śaṃkaravijayam states that when Adi Shankara was at Sringeri, he met a boy named Giri. Adi Shankara accepted the boy as his disciple. Giri was a hard-working and loyal servant of his Guru, Adi Shankara, though he did not appear bright to the other disciples. One day, Giri was washing his Guru’s clothes, when Adi Shankara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedanta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores and singing lessons. At this, Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that it would be the same if Adi Shankara taught to this dumb object as he taught to Giri. Now, Adi Shankara wanted to reward Giri for his loyalty and devotion. Thus he mentally granted Giri the complete knowledge of all the śāstras (sciences). The enlightened Giri composed extempore the Totakashtakam, a Sanskrit poem in the toţaka metre, in praise of the Guru Adi Shankara. Thus the dumb disciple Giri became Totakacharya. He was thenceforth called Anandagiri. He would later go on to write the celebrated Tika on the Mandukya Karika.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totakacharya
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