[Advaita-l] Shankaracharya quoting the Ramayana?

[subhanu saxena]

V Subramanian wrote:
*In the Brahmasutra bhashya 3.4.47 Shankaracharya says: ...
'वाल्मीकिर्मुनिपुङ्गवः' इत्यादिषु व्यभिचारदर्शनात् ।  Is this quote about
Valmiki found in the original Ramayana or any other work?

Regards,
subrahmanian.v
Namaste this phrase is found in three places in Vālmīki's work as it has been received today. Of the various editions available of the text (eg Gita Press etc) I have followed the online GRETIL reference,
for easy access to all:
1) The very first verse of Bāla Kāṇḍa , where the phrase is actually describing nārada 
  tapaḥsvādhyāyanirataṃ tapasvī vāgvidāṃ varamnāradaṃ paripapraccha vālmīkir munipuṃgavam [Bāla Kāṇḍa 1.1.1]



The first sarga is a summary of the entire Ramayana story, and we often recite this as parayanam.Modern scholars have postulated that the original text proper begins somewhere at the start of the 5th sarga of Bāla Kāṇḍa,around verses 5/6:
kosalo nāma muditaḥ sphīto janapado mahānniviṣṭaḥ sarayūtīre prabhūtadhanadhānyavān [Bāla Kāṇḍa 1.5.5]
ayodhyā nāma nagarī tatrāsīl lokaviśrutāmanunā mānavendreṇa yā purī nirmitā svayam [Bāla Kāṇḍa 1.5.6]


2) The phrase is also found in Uttara Kāṇḍa in 2 places:

tāṃ sitāṃ śokabhārārtāṃ vālmīkir munipuṃgavaḥuvāca madhurāṃ vāṇīṃ hlādayann iva tejasā [Uttara Kāṇḍa 7.48.7]

and

3)
vartamāne tathābhūte yajñe paramake 'dbhutesaśiṣya ājagāmāśu vālmīkir munipuṃgavaḥ [Uttara Kāṇḍa 7.84.1]

Modern scholarship questions whether these portions are original to Vālmīki's original workOne can only surmise that Shankara was quoting from a text that had acknowledged all sections of the work asVālmīki's work

RegardsSubhanu