A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s8.25

c10.s8.25

¹ A good amount of confusion has occurred in earlier writings in the identification of Śaṅkara’s works. Thus, the Jātakasāra, noticed by Ulloor (Ul. 474) is, really, by a namesake of our author. Our Śaṅkara has actually composed two works under the title Jātakasāra, one in Sanskrit and the other in Malayalam; Ulloor does not mention the former and describes the latter as an anonymous work (Ul. III. 241-42), failing to take note of the apparent Mahiṣamaṅgalm characteristics in it. Similarly, Ulloor does not take note of Śaṅkara’s Praśnamālā and describes Śaṅkara’s own Bhāṣa on it as an anonymous work (Ul. III. 242). Again, Ulloor describes Śaṅkara’s Balaśaṅkaram, called also Pañcabodhakriyākrama on Pañcabodha IV as the Pañcabodha of Śaṅkara, while Śaṅkara’s commentary on Pañcabodha (II) is not noticed. Certain other works, viz, Bhāṣāsaṅgraha, Praśnasāra and Karaṇasāra have also been ascribed to our author but they do not appear to be his works. Of these, Bhāṣāsaṅgraha is a commentary by Vāsudeva on Muhūrtapadavī V and the Praśnasāra and Karaṇasāra are the works of different authors named Śaṅkara. A detailed study on the identification of Śaṅkara’s works is being presented by the present writer elsewhere.