[Advaita-l] Definition of 'Sūtra, Bhāṣya, Vārtikam, Prakaraṇam...etc.'

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 28 Oct 2016, Sundaram Venkatraman via Advaita-l wrote:

> A question arises from the definition of Prakarana. If prakaranas deal 
> with only some aspects of the subject of Advaita, I am wondering how 
> appropriate it is to call Panchadashi and Vivekachudsmani Prakarana 
> Granthas. They seem to be dealing with the entire subject matter! 
> Regards,
>

I think of it this way.  It's not so much about how comprehensive it is 
but the focus.  A prakarana is aimed inwards at people who already accept 
the principles of Advaita Vedanta but just have questions about one aspect 
or another.  Whereas bhashyas present the subject matter to a possibly 
uninformed or even hostile audience with polemics and apologetics along 
with exposition.

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