knowledge and wisdom

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

On Mon, 5 May 1997, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

> Further, what is the earliest reference for the use of the word "avidya"
> in the context of advaita ?
>

The ISa upanishad uses the words avidyA and vidyA, but one could
obviously argue for a non-advaitic interpretation of any upanishad, so
calling it the first use in an *advaitic* context might be problematic.
The earliest use other than this is probably in SankarAcArya's brahmasUtra
bhAshya. I'm not sure if pre-Sankaran writers like the vr.ttikAra, or
sundara pANDya used the word in the technical sense that has come to be
attached to it in classical advaita literature.

Vidyasankar