Bhagavatpadabhyudaya by Lakshmana Suri (study)
by Lathika M. P. | 2018 | 67,386 words
This page relates 鈥楧ispute over Shankara鈥檚 Birth Place鈥� of the study on the Bhagavatpadabhyudaya by Lakshmana Suri: a renowned Sanskrit Scholar from the 19th century. The Bhagavatpada-abhyudaya is a Mahakavya (epic poem) narrating the life of Shankara-Acharya, a prominent teacher of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. This essay investigates the socio-spiritual conditions of 8th century AD in ancient India as reflected in Lakshmanasuri鈥檚 work.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Dispute over 艢补峁卥补谤补鈥檚 Birth Place
Almost all the 艢补峁卥补谤补诲颈驳惫颈箩补测腻蝉 accept the place of his birth as K膩ladi. But Anandanandagiri鈥檚 艢补峁卥补谤补诲颈驳惫颈箩补测补 (its Calcutta edition published in 1868) gives another information. According to this edition he was born immaculately at Chidambaram as the son of Vi艣i艣峁璦.[1] According to 艢颈惫补谤补丑补蝉测补 the birthplace of 艢补峁卥补谤补 was 艢a艣alagr膩ma in Kerala.[2] One is at a lost to identity that place. In this manner not to speak of the place of his demise, even the place of his birth, which is the one biographical point on which all other 艢补峁卥补谤补vijay膩s are agreed, is disputed atleast by one version of what is considered today by many as authoritative text, namely that of Anandanandagiri, in his Calcutta edition of 1868. This deviation made is the result of confusing 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补 with Abhinava 艢补峁卥补谤补, whose native place is Cidambaram. The same confusion might have entered into some of the other details connected with the hero of Anandanandagiri鈥檚 艢补峁卥补谤补vijaya.[3]
The Head of all the 艢补峁卥补谤补 尘补峁环腻蝉 are called as 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补鈥檚. This is indicated as a little, not as an individual鈥檚 name. This was the main confusion of biographical and literary details connected with them. This confusion has got worse interference with manuscript copies in the past made by the authority of particular 艢补峁卥补谤补 尘补峁环腻蝉. Inorder to enhance the prestige and supremacy of the institution that patronised them. As a result we had so many traditions about 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补, who dares to swear by any of these traditions as truly historical and the others as fabricated. In this confused situation 惭腻诲丑补惫补鈥檚 艢补峁卥补谤补诲颈驳惫颈箩补测补 had the one outstanding superiority over all other available Digvijay膩s. The poem emphasizes that it is the product of Nava-办腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 or a modern K膩lid膩sa, as the author describes himself in his composition. It contains the exposition of some of the moot points in Advaita metaphysics. It can be described as a unique philosophical and historical poem. There are so many uncertainity about 艢补峁卥补谤补鈥檚 life. These might be about biographical details. But the historicity of 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补 stand on the following firm foundation: inspite of all the differences among authorities in some important details in his life, the main outlines of it stand clear. The differences in details could not change these common factors representing different tradition. There is also the influence of 艢补峁卥补谤补 on most of the great temple and holy places of India. Among them the important factors are where he lived, reached, renovated edifices and contributed so immensely to their holy traditions that his name and doings had become almost legendary, creating an image that have remind indelible on the Indian mind. In addition to these all there are his great commentaries on three source books of Vedanta, Vedanta 蝉奴迟谤补蝉, 鲍辫补苍颈峁诲蝉 and 叠丑补驳补惫补迟驳墨迟补.
Some biographical accounts accepted uniformly that the birth place of 艢补峁卥补谤补 is K膩ladi. 尝补办峁补峁嘺 S奴rin says:
1 jantoryad膩艣rit膩tk膩la岣� 岣嵞玨ate 产丑补测补惫颈丑惫补濒补岣�
iti hetorvadantyena峁� k膩la岣嵞玹i 惫颈肠补办峁峁嘺岣� || [4]
It is stated that K膩ladi was the birthplace of 艢补峁卥补谤补. 惭腻诲丑补惫补 already has the same opinion.
2 tasye艣varasya pra峁嘺t膩tihartu pras膩data岣� pr膩ptanir墨tibh膩va岣�
ka艣cittadabhy膩艣agato'grah膩ra岣� k膩la峁瓂膩bhikhyo'sti mah膩nmanoj帽a岣� || [5]
God 艢颈惫补, the self-created and merciful being, the destroyer of Cupid, manifested himself as His holy emblem, usually called 艢颈惫补li峁単a [艣颈惫补濒颈峁単补尘], on a hill known as V峁泂膩cala situated near the course of the river 笔奴谤峁嘺 in the Kerala country.
厂补迟测腻苍补苍诲补 厂补谤补蝉惫补迟墨 and 顿补峁囜笉颈 厂惫腻尘颈 share this view.
ka艣cittadabhya艣ag膩to'grah膩ra岣� k膩la峁瓂膩bhikhyo'sti mah膩nmatoj帽a岣� |[6]
He saw the beautiful village named K膩ladi surrounded by Brahmin 础驳谤补丑腻谤补蝉.
驳补峁単腻 辫补惫颈迟谤腻'sti yath膩 nad墨峁 khy膩ta艣ca t墨rthe峁 sa 迟墨谤迟丑补谤腻箩补岣�
yath膩 nagendre峁 tu峁Ｄ乺a艣ailogramastath膩sti hi k膩la岣嵞玹i || [7]How the 骋补峁単补 is sacred among all the rivers, how 贬颈尘腻濒补测补 is adorned the royal position among all the mountains like K膩ladi adorned the famous positions among all the villages.
Vy膩s膩cala records the same place as his place of birth.
k膩la峁瓂膩khyo gr膩mavar峁 dvij膩graya岣� |
satsanto峁Ｄ� kerale峁膩titheya岣� ||
箩补箩帽别 办补谤迟腻 办补谤尘补峁嚹佱箖 codit膩n膩m |
tyakt膩nitya峁� nindit膩n膩峁� 惫颈苍墨迟补岣� ||[8]In the famous village K膩ladi there was a Brahmin. He performed Vaidika Karma, and behaved very well avoiding the bad actions.
However some 艢补峁卥补谤补 Digvijay膩s points that Kaladi is not the birthplace of 艢补峁卥补谤补. 鈥�艢补峁卥补谤补 Digvijayam of 膧苍补苍诲补驳颈谤颈鈥� said that 艢补峁卥补谤补 was born in Cidambaram.[9]
Dr.Veezhinathan says that the birthplace of 艢补峁卥补谤补 is Cidambaram. The editors of the 1868 edition Navadweep Goswami and Jayanasa Tarkapanchanana says that their edition is based on the text they proved with great difficulty. One is in Nagari letter, the second one is the Telugu and the other one is in Bengali alphabets. According to the text of Calcutta edition, Anant膩nandagiri is not giving the history of 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补 but of 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补 who was born to 痴颈蝉颈峁ａ弓补 of Cidambaram and lived there taking 厂补峁僴测腻蝉补 and went on Digvijaya that are entirely different from the tours of 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补. Which are dealt in some other 痴颈箩补测腻蝉. 艢补峁卥补谤补 of Cidambaram is largely concerned with reforming the country and not done much with philosophy. The event with 惭补峁囜笉补苍补 has been given only a casual mention in the form of a synopsis. In this and in the writing of bhasyas the two 艢补峁卥补谤补s are getting mixed up. In Calcutta edition he attains siddhi at 碍腻帽肠颈 as mentioned by Dr.Veezhinathan. But the point comes out of Calcutta edition is that it is Chidambaram 艢补峁卥补谤补 who attains siddhi at 碍腻帽肠颈 so we cannot reply up on Anandanandagiri鈥檚 text to know about 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补鈥檚 resting place. There are more possibility that Cidambaram 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补 is the Abhinava 艢补峁卥补谤补, whom even modern scholars mistakenly identified with 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补 and given 758 A.D as his time. Moreover Anandanandagiri calls the hero his Parama-Guru (teacher鈥檚 teacher) but none has recorded that 膧di 艢补峁卥补谤补 or his disciples had a disciple called Anandanandagiri. Cidambaram 艢补峁卥补谤补鈥檚 disciple was Anandanandagiri and Prachina 艢补峁卥补谤补vijaya attributed to him is not available anywhere now. The final view is not possible with the existing information. We can only say that it is one of the traditions.
According to 膧苍补苍诲补驳颈谤颈鈥檚 艢补峁卥补谤补 Digvijaya 艢补峁卥补谤补 was born at Cidambaram as the son of 痴颈蝉颈峁ａ弓补. Moreover some stray manuscripts are the only authority which says that 鈥楥idambaram鈥� a famous religious center in Tamil Nadu, is the place of birth of 艢ri 艢补峁卥补谤补. As noted above it may be that author mixes up the details of the lives of more than one 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补. 尝补办峁补峁嘺 S奴rin is firm that K膩ladi is 艢补峁卥补谤补鈥檚 birth place and it has been widely accepted.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Vide 惭腻诲丑补惫补 Vidhy膩ra峁噛a, 艢补峁卥补谤补诲颈驳惫颈箩补测补, Tr., Swami Tapasyananda, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2002, p. XXXIV
[2]:
Ibid
[3]:
Ibid
[4]:
尝补办峁补峁嘺 S奴rin, 叠丑补驳补惫补迟辫腻诲腻产丑测耻诲补测补, Upodgh膩ta, p. 15.
[5]:
[7]:
[8]:
痴测腻蝉腻肠补濒补, 艢补峁卥补谤补vijaya, Ed., T. Chandrasekharan, Madras: Govt.: Press, 1954, I. 1.
[9]:
Vide 惭腻诲丑补惫补 Vidhy膩ra峁噛a, 艢rimad 艢补峁卥补谤补诲颈驳惫颈箩补测补, Tr., Swami Tapasyananda, p. xxii