Saturday, November 05, 2005
sankaracaryas original works.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Works of the Original ˛a∫karåcårya
There have been several attempts to determine which of
the more than 400 extant works attributed to ˛a∫karåcårya were
actually written by the original or Ådi ˛a∫karåcårya, rather than
by a later ˛a∫karåcårya. In the absence of definite information,
these attempts have necessarily been somewhat hypothetical.
Yet there does exist a source of definite information, although it
has only been seen by one modern researcher. It is the lost
˛a∫kara-vijaya, or biography of ˛a∫kara, written by his lifelong
companion, Citsukhåcårya. This text was used by T. S. Narayana
Sastri, along with other ˛a∫kara-vijayas, for his book, The Age of
˛ankara, published in 1916. Narayana Sastri (spelled Sastry in
the 2nd ed., Madras: B. G. Paul & Co., 1971) reports that
Citsukhåcårya describes the various works of ˛a∫kara, giving the
occasion on which they were composed, and often citing them
in full.
There have been several attempts to determine which of
the more than 400 extant works attributed to ˛a∫karåcårya were
actually written by the original or Ådi ˛a∫karåcårya, rather than
by a later ˛a∫karåcårya. In the absence of definite information,
these attempts have necessarily been somewhat hypothetical.
Yet there does exist a source of definite information, although it
has only been seen by one modern researcher. It is the lost
˛a∫kara-vijaya, or biography of ˛a∫kara, written by his lifelong
companion, Citsukhåcårya. This text was used by T. S. Narayana
Sastri, along with other ˛a∫kara-vijayas, for his book, The Age of
˛ankara, published in 1916. Narayana Sastri (spelled Sastry in
the 2nd ed., Madras: B. G. Paul & Co., 1971) reports that
Citsukhåcårya describes the various works of ˛a∫kara, giving the
occasion on which they were composed, and often citing them
in full.
