Wikipedia
Mahamandaleshwar (or Maha Mandaleshwar) is a title used by some Hindu monks of the Dashanami order of renunciates ("swamis") founded by Shankaracharya. A person called Mahamandaleshwar has been elevated by his peers to the highest level of traditional, Hindu spiritual guardianship. Today India has 530 Mahamandaleshwars who carry on the work begun by Adi Shankaracharya 1200 years ago.
Literally, "Mahamandaleshwar" means "Superior of great and/or numerous monasteries" or "Superior of a religious district or province" (maha = great, mandala = district, ishwara = head, sovereign). There are two systems of organization in the dashanami order. Each of the ten names (dasha = ten, nami = name), which is appended to a monk's given name at initiation, is assigned to one of the four cardinal monastic seats founded by Shankaracharya and presided over by his direct successors at Joshimath in North India, Dwarka in the West, Shringeri in the South and Puri in the East.