Shankara is the founder of the first major order, known as the Shankaracha-rya Order. He established monasteries in four sacred cities: Badrinath in the north, Shrinagar in the south, Puri in the east, and Davarka in the west. Shan-kara's followers established a number of Vaishnava orders, the first of which was begun by Ramanuja, another renowned theologian. Shankara's monks learned the nondualistic Vedanta system of thought, with its mysticism.

The Shankaracharya order of renouncers was formally known as the Dashanami (Ten Names) Order. This is because the renouncers, or Sannyas-ins, all take one of ten names: Aranya, Ashrama, Bharati, Giri, Parvata, Puru, Sarasvati, Sagara, Tirtha, or Vana. Shankaracharya's aim was to establish a highly disciplined and intellectually capable group of mendicants who could challenge and defeat the Buddhists of his time and who would debate theistic Hindus who clung to Vedic orthodoxy.

The Dashanamis of the Shankaracharya Order are still considered the most respected group of mendicants in India. Members of the order are learned in Sanskrit and Vedanta philosophy and are often educated in English as well. The order is devoted to noninjury and nonviolence; however, they hired militant mendicants carrying tridents to defend them against attacks by militant Vaishnavite Sadhus. Battles between these groups are famous for their carnage.