A Question??? (Warning: ..long...)

[Giri]

Vidya wrote:

>Now, there are two well-known mathas in
>the south, Sringeri and Kanchi, which have conflicting traditions about
>Sankara. Their details of Sankara's birth, his lifespan, his date, his
>death and the place where he was acclaimed as a sarvajna, are all mutually
>opposed. Sringeri's traditions are in tune with what is known from the
>rest of India.

        I am curious on what the mathas say about the date of birth of
Shankara. I think that Sringeri's math says it is around 800 A.D (am I
right ?). The kanchi kamakoti math (atleast their official home page on
the net) says that Shankara established the matha 2500 years back i.e.
around 5 B.C. What do the other maths say ?
        I have argued with other members of this list (via e-mail) that
Shankara was born around 700-800 AD and not BC's and this is sorta
confirmed by modern scholars. Vidya has posted long discussions on this on
the net also, and the author of 'A Survey of Hinduism' cites Vidya as a
source on these matters. But that is not what I am interested in, I just
want to know what maths say on the date of birth of Shankara, if such
records are kept. Thank you.

Namaste.