[Advaita-l] Evidence for Vedic ‘Sauram’ and ‘Shaaktam’ in the pre-Shankaracharya Era

[V Subrahmanian]

Evidence for Vedic ‘Sauram’ and ‘Shaaktam’ in the pre-Shankaracharya Era

We find in the ancient Sanskrit literature that thrived under royal
patronage evidence for the worship of deities such as Surya and Shakti.
There are two extremely popular works, ‘Shatakam’s, a poem of 100 verses,
on Surya authored by Mayura and ‘Chandi’, the consort of Shiva, by BaaNa.
Both the poets were very popular even during their lifetimes with a number
of works of literature to their credit.  The two works have been cited by
many poets/authors of the most ancient times onward.

The two works, as a sample, gain great significance since they are of the
Pre-Shankaracharya era.  Shankaracharya has been hailed as the
‘Shan-mata-sthaapanacharya’, the one who nurtured and popularized the
six-fold paths of sadhana to attain the Supreme. The theme of this idea is:
the deities Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Surya, Ganapati and Kumaara are looked
upon as the Para Brahman of the Vedanta by the sadhaka-s who are devoted to
each of these deities. Devotion to the deity is the means to culminate in
the realization that the aspirant is none other than Brahman of which this
deity is only a representation.
This article lists a few excerpts, as a sample, from the two works to show
that Surya and Chandi Devi were extolled and held in high esteem as the
Para Brahman of the Veda. The editor of the two works in this publication
has given a number of puranic evidences throughout the two works to
substantiate the allusions of episodes in the verses. Aastikas, who are
vaidika-s, hold the Puranas as part of the Vedic Dharma.

The full article, of 22 pages, in pdf can be downloaded from this link:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qnqzj2zwt3dx3kw/Excerpts_from_Surya_%2526_Chandi_shataka_docx.pdf/file

Om Tat Sat