Who Is The Founder Of Advaita Vadenta?

Although SankarAcArya is believed to be the founder of the Advaita school of thought of the Vadenta, in reality there really is not any single founder of this school of thought, called the advaita. The reason that this school of thought does not have a particular founder is that it derives its basic foundation stone from the hindu Vedas.  Since the doctrine of the philosophy of advaita is beased in the upanishads, which are a part of the eternal Vedas of hinduism, the advaita school of thought does not trace its origins to a single historical personality.

However, SankarAcArya is venerated and respected as the most important and significant teacher of advaita vedAnta. SankarAcArya was a philosopher of the 7th and 8th centuries AD who promulgated the Advaita Vadenta philosophy with full zeal. He is the one who wrote commentaries to the basic and fundamental scriptural texts, in order to explain these texts in more detail. He also placed the living advaita Vadenta tradition on a firm and strong footing. Before the time of  SankarAcArya, the tradition of the Advaita was passed down basically through oral instructions from one generation to another and so on.
Even in today's world, the traditional way to learn advaita is for one to sit at the feet of an accomplished teacher, also known as the guru. If one only reads the texts to learn this philosophy, that is insufficient.