Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.1156

c9.1156

3) Crocodile-attack. The boy showed no taste for or interest in childish plays, but evinced a tendency towards a life of renunciation. This attitude of the son pained the mother much and she wanted her son to get married. But, the boy did not like the idea. As fate would have it, an incident which proved to be a turning point in the boy's life occurred soon. One day the mother and her son were bathing in the Periyār, when a crocodile caught hold of the boy. He cried aloud, and the mother got greatly alarmed. There was a custom for one to take sannyāsa, irrespective of circumstances, when danger or death threatened one, and that is called āpatsannyāsa. Śaṅkara prayed to his mother for permission to take sannyāsa at that moment when his end was near, and willynilly the mother granted permission. All at once the crocodile, which had so unexpectedly attacked him, disappeared equally unexpectedly. The boy came out of the river absolutely unhurt. The decision to take sannyāsa was taken once for all. Śaṅkara assured his mother, before he started on a tour of the country, that he would be present at her bedside during her last days and also that he would duly perform her obsequies.