Adi Shankara (Sanskrit: आदिशङ्करः Ādi Śaṅkara, pronounced [aːd̪i ɕəŋkəɾə]) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian sage from Kalady in present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta. His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.

Shankara travelled across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta of which he is known as the greatest revivalist. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.

Mohan Babu (born Manchu Bakthavatsalam Naidu) is an actor and producer in Telugu Cinema. He is also an educationist and a former Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. He received the Padma Shri in 2007.

Mohan was born on 19 March 1952 at Modhugulapalem village near the banks of the river Swarnamukhi, and sandwiched between two famous pilgrim centers, Tirupati (abode of Lord Venkateshwara) and Srikalahasti (abode of Lord Vayulingeswara) in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. He has three younger brothers – Ranganath Chowdary, Ramachandra Chowdary and Krishna – and a sister Vijaya. He had his schooling at Yerpedu village and Tirupati. He took his degree in Physical Education in Chennai. He worked as a physical education instructor for a brief while, before making his debut as an actor in the Telugu film industry. Mohan Babu also worked in the film direction department for about half a decade in the early 1970s. He was a class mate of Rajinikanth while they studied at the Madras Film Institute.