[Advaita-l] Subject: Lalitha Sahsranama - Saundaryalahari

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

On Thu, 6 Jul 2023, sunil bhattacharjya via Advaita-l wrote:


> My reply is that it will be convincing if you back it with some documented
> proof,

One edition I have consulted is Saundaryalahari with 9 Sanskrit commentaries, 
English and Tamil translations etc. by A. kuppuswami, T.R. Ramakrishna Shastri, 
and S.V. Radhakrishna Shastri.  It was published in 1976 on the occasion 
of the Kumbhabhisheka of Kamkshi mandir.

This book contains a shrimukha by Swami Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi 
which includes the following:

...parampUjyashrImadbhagavatpAdaiH kailAsATprAptaM svarachitashlokaiH...

Dr. Karan Singh who was the Union  health minister at the time and the 
Maharaja of Kashmir has contributed a forward to this book.  While not a 
sampradayavid, he was a scholar of Vedanta and he says

...Shri Saundarya-Lahari, one of the masterpieces of Sri Adi 
Shankaracharya...

He goes on to say:

Traditionally Shri Shankara is supposed to have composed the Saundarya 
Lahari in Shrinagar.

Another edition is by Anantakrishna Shastri published in 1957 with 
Sankrit commentaries English translation, notes on prayoga etc.  It 
contains a shrimukha from Swami Abhinavavidyatirtha of Shringeri which 
says

pUjyashrIbhagavatpAdAH IdR^ishamahimashAlinImambikAM stotumichchhantaH 
saundaryalaharInAmakaM mantrashAstratattvanigumbhitaM 
devIsvarUpavarNAnAtmakaM grantharatnaM nibabandhuH }


I have also referred to "bhagavatapAdashrIimadAdishaMkarAcharyavirachita 
saundaryalahari" with English Hindi and Gujarati translations pUjAvidhi 
etc. compiled by shrI Sadananda Brahmachari who is now Swami Sadananda 
Saraswati Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath.  The title alone demonstrates the 
editors opinion.

The tika of Lakshmidhara Deshika which is the most popular and 
authoritative commentary begins:

iha khalu shaMkarabhagavatpUjyapAdAH samayatattvavedinaH samayAkhyAM 
chandrakalAM shlokashatena prastuvanti

Swami KaivalyAshrama's saubhAgyavardhanI is also a well-know tika.  It says

bhagavAnparamakAruNikaH shaMkarAvatAra shaMkarAchAryaH 
shivashaktiyoravhedaM GYApayituM sakalaprapa~nchasAkShiNyAH 
brahmAvinAbhUtachichchhakteH stutidvArA mAtR^ikAdimantrAnuddharati

shrI bhAskararAya in his saubhAgyabhAskara on lalitAsahasR^inAma quotes 
from saundaryalaharI several times and considers shaMkarAchArya to be its 
author.  For instance under shloka 189:

saundaryalaharyo mukhaM binduM kR^itveti shloke[1] spaShTakalpamuktaM 
bhagavatpAdaiH

[1] shloka 19

And if all that is not enough for you, One of the 108 names in 
ShaMkarAShtottaraShatanAmavalI is saundaryalaharImukhyabahustotravidhAyaka


> Some say a Bhakataka (brahmin) king wrote the Ananda lahari.


No _one_ person says that, the author of the sudhAvidyotini tika.

All the historians who repeat this theory are only going off this one 
source.


>  Some sat
> Pravarasena was a descendent or relative  of the brahmin king
> SriharshaVikranaditya.
>

You have confused several different things.


Shriharsha was a Brahmana yes but not a king. He was a courtier of the 
King Vijayachandra who ruled parts of Eastern U.P. and Bihar in the 12th 
century AD.  He wrote the mahakavya naishadacharita and the Advaita work 
khandanakhandakhadya.


Perhaps you meant Harshavardhana.  He was a king (not Brahmana) of 
Sthaneshwara (modern Thanesar in Haryana) who became emperor of almost all 
of North India and moved his capital to Kanyakubja (modern Kanauj in U.P.)

We are more certain of his dates than most Indian historical figures 
because Kavi Banabhatta wrote a biography of him, Harshacharita, which 
mentions datable events.  Archeologists have found coins issued by him. 
And most importantly a Chinese Buddhist monk named Xuanzang (Hsien Tang in 
the old transliteration) made a pilgrimage to India at this time and met 
the king.  On these bases, we know he lived around 590-647 AD.

Harshavardhana did not call himself Vikramaditya.  However we know from 
coins, Xuanzang etc. that he was known as Shiladitya on account of his 
good government.  Shriharsha did not call himself Vikramaditya either.

There are no records of any king "of Dravida desha" named Pravarasena.


>
> You wrote:
> There is no such person.  If you are going to make these kind of
> outlandish assertions back them up with evidence.
>
> I will request you kindly to see the Guruparampara list of the Kanchi
> Kamakoti math and you will find thename of the Abhinava shankara.
>

The list at https://kamakoti.org/peeth/origin.html#appendix2 has his name 
as Abhinava Shankarendra Saraswati.  It does not mention him being the 
author of Saundaryalahari only that "his deeds are often confounded with 
those of the Great Bhagavatpada and his deeds."  Of course this is 
assuming the list is historically reliable at all.

But it is irrelevant anyway because the Kanchi math itself acknowledges 
Shankaracharya as the author of Saundaryalahari.  (See shrimukha mentioned 
above or 
https://www.kamakoti.org/kamakoti/books/ESSENCE%2520OF%2520SOUNDARYA%2520LAHARI%2520-ADI%2520SHANKARA.pdf

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