[Advaita-l] Adi Sankara Vs Vyasa Debate in Sankara Dig Vijaya

Bhaskar YR bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
Mon May 28 07:17:05 CDT 2012


sAshtAnga praNAms Sri Vidya prabhuji
Hare Krishna

Sorry for the belated reply as I was busy in some official work. 

Bhaskar, what is your source for the above statements? 

>  Long time back, when I was attending the kAryAlaya vedAnta shibira, I 
remembered that we have discussed this issue.  Moreover, Sri SSS, has 
written one vimarshAtmaka grantha on various shankara vijaya-s, wherein he 
discusses these issues & inconsistencies in narrating these episodes by 
biographers in a detailed way. 


There is one edition of vyAsAcalIya from Chennai. I don't remember whether 
this story is in that
text or not, but note that there is really a lot of common material 
between
the mAdhavIya and vyAsAcalIya Sankaravijaya texts.

>  AFAIK, vyAsa saNdarshana story in vyAsAchaleeya SV does not match with 
the story in mAdhaveeya. vyAsAchaleeya simply says, vyAsa has appreciated 
the work of shankara..No mention of debate between sutrakAra & bhAshyakAra 
here.  More details I can provide you after reading the relevant portion. 
Because its long time back since I read this work. 
 
If by Anandagiri's text, you mean the one that is known as the prAcIna
Sankaravijaya, please note that this text is not available any more. As 
such,
it is impossible to say whether this episode is or is not mentioned in 
that
Sankaravijaya.

>  Yes, you are right prabhuji.
 
If by Anandagiri's text, you mean the one that mentions its author's name
as anantAnandagiri, then this episode is very much present in that text. 
In
fact, in the anantAnandagiri Sankaravijaya, it is said that Sankara 
himself
instructed padmapAda to manhandle the old man who came to debate with
him and that padmapAda dragged the old man out by his feet. 

>  Yes, prabhuji, you are right.  It is anantAnandagiri's SV. It is where 
author mentions shankara did the 'kapOlatAdana' to the old man :-)) 
 
Only one or two think it is a valid text.
Rather than glorifying Sankara, it depicts his life often in a negative 
fashion,
much like the infamous maNimanjarI and other texts penned by mAdhva
writers.

>  Yes, prabhuji, as you have rightly mentioned, it is better to treat 
these exaggerated episodes as mere poetic imagination of biographers 
instead of taking it as factual incidents.  Infact, after reading Sri 
SSS's vimarshAtmaka grantha, I stopped reading biographies of bhagavatpAda 
& not able to give any worthy credibility to these controversial episodes. 
 
 
cidvilAsIya is a minor text and is not very old, so if it gives a story 
like what
you describe, rest assured that its author is merely restating the story 
as
given in the anantAnandagiri text. 

>  Yes, prabhuji.  But my  last doubt, whether mAdhaveeya considered as 
authentic work in accounting these details??  If yes, on what basis can we 
say ONLY mAdhaveeya is trustworthy among available other biographies?? 
 
Your humble servant
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar


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