[Advaita-l] manisha panchaka

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

[was: Re: [Advaita-l] Advaita-l Digest, Vol 59, Issue 16]

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009, Mohan Nagaswamy wrote:

>
> Coud some one tell me whether the introductory verse of the chandala in 
> the Manisha panchakam of Sankara is original, found in all the 
> manuscripts or only in some manuscripts. Some publications do not 
> include them. If found in any purana or vijayas which is its earliest 
> date? Similarly the end verse? Thank you Nagaswamy
>

Sorry for the delayed response.  I only got a chance to go to the library 
and research this today.

I saw two tikas, one called Madhumanjari by Swami Balagopalendra Saraswati 
and the other called vivarana by the famous Upanishad Brahma Swami.  Both 
of these are fairly recent (c. 17th century AD)  Both commentaries are on 
the five main shlokas only.  However both do mention the story of 
Shankaracharyas encounter with the chandala in Kashi.

I believe the two frame shlokas are from Madhaviya Shankara Digvijaya. 
The story of the chandala is in 6:20-43 of that work.  I'm not 100% sure 
because the copy of MSD was not very good.  The MSD belongs to 14th 
century AD.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>