A History of Sanskrit Literature c16.s2.40

c16.s2.40

A lyric poet of much fervour and no mean accomplishment must be recognized in the philosopher Çaṅkara,¹ if we can trust the tradition which ascribes to him many hymns, especially to Devī, the mother-goddess, whom the Çāktas adored as the expression of the highest power in the universe. Çaṅkara's doctrine of the two aspects of truth, the higher and the lower, permitted him to adopt to the full popular beliefs and to express his feelings in a way acceptable to other than metaphysicians, and there is no reason whatever to doubt that he composed such poems. It is, of course, a different thing to say which of those allotted to him by tradition were really his. A solemn warning of the passing of time is given in the *Çivāparādhakṣamāpaṇastotra*: