Advaita Vedānta, as a clearly defined non-dualist school within Hindu philosophy, is traditionally associated with the work of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, also known as Adi Shankara. While the spirit of non-duality is present in the Upaniṣads and further articulated by earlier teachers such as Gauḍapāda, it is Shankara who is regarded as the one who fully developed and established Advaita Vedānta as a coherent and influential philosophical system. His period is generally placed in the eighth century CE, with traditional accounts often giving dates such as 788–820 CE for his life.

Through his extensive commentarial work on foundational texts like the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Brahma Sūtras, Shankara gave Advaita Vedānta its classical form, method, and vocabulary. These writings did not merely repeat earlier insights but wove them into a systematic vision of non-duality that could stand as a distinct school of thought. In this way, the emergence of Advaita Vedānta as a formal, self-conscious tradition is closely tied to Shankara’s life and teaching activity in that same general period.