Re: [INDOLOGY] Works attributed to Śaṅkarācārya

[David and Nancy Reigle]

Dear Alakendu Das,

As you know, each of the maṭhas started by Śaṅkarācārya has a long line of
adhipatis up to the present. Each adhipati also has the title Śaṅkarācārya.
So there have been many Śaṅkarācāryas after Ādi Śaṅkarācārya. The idea,
then, is that the majority of the more than 400 works attributed to
Śaṅkarācārya are actually by later Śaṅkarācāryas, not by Ādi Śaṅkarācārya,
even though they are usually taken to be by Ādi Śaṅkarācārya.

A clear example of this is the *Saundarya-laharī*, which has long been
attributed to Śaṅkarācārya, meaning Ādi Śaṅkarācārya. V. Raghavan found a
manuscript of this work whose colophon stated that it is by Śaṅkarācārya,
the adhipati of the Sarasvatī-pīṭha at Śrīvidyānagara, i.e., a later
Śaṅkarācārya. (See footnote 24 in *The Saundaryalaharī or Flood of Beauty*,
edited and translated by W. Norman Brown, Harvard University Press, 1958,
pp. 29-30.)

There are also known cases where a work written by someone else has
somehow, over the years, gotten attributed to Śaṅkarācārya. An example of
this is the *Prabodha-sudhākara*. V. Raghavan showed of the basis of
manuscript colophons, etc., that it was actually written by Daivajña Sūrya
Paṇḍita. (See his article, "The Nṛsimha Campū of Daivajña Sūrya Paṇḍita and
the Nṛsimhavijñāpana of Śrī Nṛsimhāśramin," *Adyar Library Bulletin*, vol.
1, 1937, p. 44.)

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.


On Tue, Aug 28, 2018 at 11:03 AM, alakendu das <
mailmealakendudas at rediffmail.com> wrote:

> Mr.Reigle,
>
> It was enriching going through your elaboration on Shankara's
> work.However,I find it interesting to know ,if 24 out of 408 works are
> actually by Shankara himself,then who composed the rest?
>
> Alakendu Das.
>
> Sent from RediffmailNG on Android
>
>


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