Jyotirmath, also called Jyotir Math and Joshimath, is a place and a matha in Uttaranchal, India in the Himalayas. It is the original uttarāmnāya maṭha or northern monastry, one of the four cardinal pīthas established by Adi Sankara, the others being those at Sringeri, Puri and Dwaraka. Its head is usually called the Shankaracharya. According to the tradition initiated by Adi Shankara, this matha is in charge of the Atharva Veda.

As it is close to the pilgrimage town of Badrinath, and the matha has not always been active, it is sometimes incorrectly said that

In its most recent history, the Jyotirmath became inactive in the early 19th century. The formal occupation of the matha was restarted with the aid of the heads of some of the other mathas from about 1940 onward. However, there is an unresolved controversy over the succession to the headship of Jyotirmath. The best known of the claimants to be the current head or Shankaracharya is Svarūpānanda Sarasvatī who is also head of the Dwaraka matha.

References

Jyotirmath Sankaracharya Lineage in the 20th Century.

An account of the four amnaya mathas, and the Dashanamī parampāra.