A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s1.30

Language: English

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In the domain of Vedānta, all the three major schools had their origin in the South. The first and greatest name here is that of Śankara, the founder of Advaita Vedānta as we know it. Few authentic details of his life are known, though he is believed to have been born at Kāladi (North Travancore) in 788 and to have died in 820 at the age of 32. His principal works are the great *Bhāshyas* on the *Brahma-sūtras*, the principal Upanishads, and the *Bhagavadgītā*, besides certain independent treatises like the *Upadeśa-sāhasrī*. Many other works, particularly Stotras (devotional poems), pass as his but there is no reason to think that Śankara wrote them. The literary force and philosophic depth of Śankara's works entitle him to a very high place among the master minds of the world. His pupil Sureśvara, who may perhaps be identified with Viśvarūpa, wrote the commentary *Bālakrīḍā* on *Yājñavalkyasmriti*. He also succinctly restated his master's fundamental principles in his *Naishkarmyasiddhi*, and wrote monumental vārttikas (elucidations) on Śankara's Bhāshyas on the Taittirīya and the Brihadāranyaka Upanishads. Śankara had other pupils who became authors; but their provenance is unknown. Mention may be made, however, of Padmapāda's Pañcapādikā, a commentary on Śankara's Bhāshya on the Brahma-sūtras; the work is now only available for the first four Sūtras. Padmapāda was a Brahmin from Kerala.

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Mandana Miśra, whom we have already mentioned as a contemporary of Śankara, held different views on Advaita which he expressed in Brahmasiddhi. Sarvajñātman was the next great Advaita author; he flourished in Travancore at the end of the tenth century. His authoritative Samkshepa-śārīraka, with its fine literary flavour, is his chief work, but he also wrote Pañcaprakriyā and Pramāna-Lakshana. This last work, on epistemology, is accepted by Mīmāmsakas as well as Vedāntins. Jñānaghana's Tattavaśuddhi is another treatise of about the same time; its author finds mention in the Śringeri list of pontiffs. Jñānottama, who commented on Sureśvara's Naishkarmyasiddhi, is the author of two independent works—Nyāyasudhā and Jñānasiddhi—and his more celebrated pupil, Chitsukha of Simhāchalam (c. 1200), deserves notice next. Chitsukha's Bhāshya-bhāva-prakāśikā is a highly esteemed commentary on Śankara's Bhāshya on the Brahma-sūtras; among his other works the best known is an independent treatise on Advaita, Tattvapradīpikā. He had pupils like Sukhaprakāśa who also became writers of repute. Amalānanda, a pupil of Sukhaprakāśa, lived near Nasik on the banks of the Godāvari in the reigns of the Yādava kings Krishna and Mahādeva (1246-71); his Vedānta-kalpataru is an extensive commentary on Vāchaspati Miśra's Bhāmatī, itself a commentary on Śankara's Brahmasūtra-bhāshya; and the Śāstradarpana is a more concise statement of the doctrines of the Bhāmatī school. Śankarānanda (c.

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1250) wrote the Ātmapurāna which brings together the gist of the Upanishads in a standard work in anustup verse; he also wrote commentaries on the principal Upanishads and on the Brahmasūtra-bhāshya of Śankara. The Sarvamatasangraha of Rāghavānanda Muni of Kerala is an epitome of several systems of Hindu philosophy, and a forerunner of the better known Sarva-darśana-sangraha of Mādhava Ācārya. Rāghavānanda's commentaries on Paramārtha-sāra, on Mukundamālā, and on the Bhāgavata Purāna called Krishna-padī exhibit his high learning in several branches of literature. This task of commenting on ancient classics and refining and restating doctrines went on steadily from generation to generation, and we can only note the most prominent works in this later derivative literature. Such were: the *Vivarana-prameya-sangraha*, and *Jivan-muktiviveka* of Vidyāraṇya and the *Pañcadaśī* ascribed to his teacher Bhāratītīrtha, but held by some to be in fact the work of the pupil; the *Sarvadarśana-sangraha* of Sāyaṇa-Mādhava which establishes the superiority of Advaita by reviewing many of the rival systems of philosophy; Ānandapūrṇa's (*c.* 1410) commentaries on the *Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya*, *Brahmasiddhi*, and *Vivarana* as well as his *Nyāyacandrikā*; Appaya Dīkṣita's sub-commentary *Vedānta-kalpataru-parimala* and his *Siddhāntaleśa sangraha*, a compendium of the various schools of advaitic thought, and *Madhvatantra-mukhamardana*, a polemic against the dualism of Madhva;

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and lastly, the *Vedāntaparibhāṣā* of Dharmarājādhvarin, the best known among the manuals of Advaita.