Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s5.t16.9

c6.s5.t16.9

Śaṅkarācārya's dialectic method involved arguing through the textual authority. He also construed the texts to support his own thesis. For example *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad* VI.17 describes a ritual to be performed for begetting a daughter who must be a *paṇḍitā*, obviously meaning a scholar. Śaṅkara in his *Bhāṣya* on this passage says that *paṇḍitā* here cannot mean “learned” because Vedic study is denied to women; hence the work can mean only a lady skilled in household management.