[Advaita-l] Age/History of Sankara

[vijay kartik]

Dear Shridharji,
   
  For the references to Abhinava Shankara as the one who actually ascended Sarvajna Peetham at Kashmir, kindly refer to the section in the kanchi mutt website about the Guru Parampara
   
  About the reference to Krpa SHankara being the one who did a digvijaya all over India, winning scholars and reestablishing Shanmata- again refer to the same portion of the website.
   
   
  About the reference that it was not the original SHankara but the later Acharyas of the Kanchi parampara who actually drove out Jainism -again please refer to the same website
   
  If the website administrator has put these sections without the authority of the mutt, I cant help it

B Shridhar <kameshwarii at gmail.com> wrote:
    /8/06, vijay kartik wrote:
>
>
> It is indeed strange that you are not aware of this 5 Sankaras theory
> which is propounded by none other than the Kanchi Mutt itself.
>
> One reference is in our own List archives. please refer:
>
> http://advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2003-August/012821.html


You are basing your theory on the article which appeared on advaita-L who
inturn reproduced a part of some author's book who claim that kanchi mutt
follows such tradition ?
How did that author conclude about this prevailing tradition at the kanchi
mutt?
Now what is the locus standing of that author based on which you concluded
that such tradition is being followed by the kanchi mutt ?
Where has it been documented in the kanchi mutt that they follow this
tradition.
I expected much more mature and stringent argument rather than such hearsay
stories.
In this sense, I feel you are no better than the innumerable fanatics of
each mutt who engage in mud slinging on each other's mutt.


For eg, if Sankara is claimed to have lived 2500 years ago, did he live
> before Buddha and therefore did not deserve the epithet ' Bouddha matha
> kandana"


There has been some quarters claiming the birth of buddha to be around 2,800
years. This seminar on age of buddha was conducted about 3 years back in
mumbai when they concluded thus. Further the site recommended by sri shyam
subramanian makes interesting reading too (www.easterntradition.org)


Again, some of the books the Kanchi Mutt rely on refer to Sankara having
> been born in Chidambaram! How to defend this?


Please clarify which books the kanchi mutt rely on. Further in case the
kanchi mutt relied on chidambaram as adi sankara's birth place then why do
they have a adi sankara sthupi at kaladi - it should have been at
chidambaram. Also why are they celebrating the sankara jayanthi at kaladi
instead of chidambaram ? Please forward facts instead of fiction.


Again Kanchi Mutt says Samkara ascended Sarvagna Peetha in Kanchi and not
> at Kashmir as tradition used to say.


Some mutts like the sringeri say that adi sankara accended the sarvagna
peetam at kedarnath, some mutt say the place to be kashmir and others like
the kanchi mutt claim it is at kanchi. So you mean that sringeri, dwarka
and kanchi dont follow tradition by claiming a place different from
kashimir ? Now what do you call as tradition ??

   
  I dont think Sringeri mutt says Shankara ascended Sarvajna Peethem at Kedarnath
  
Again if Sankara is back dated to 2500 years, how to counter the claim that
> then some of the slokas and works do not appear that old?


How do slokas appear old ?? do they grow a beard ???

Again come out with a claim that some of the works written by later
> Sankara like Krpa Sankara and Abhinava seem to be confused with Adi
> Sankara's works.
>
> Most of the above are still found even in the Kanchi mutt website.


Who claimed as above ? Has the kanchi mutt site declared that they shall
present only works of adi sankara on their site and the works of the other
acharyas are not going to be published ?


I read Muka Panchashati as part of my Sanskrit literature class and also
> History of Sanskrit literature syllabus. I can still try to get reference of
> these text books .


You informed that when you learnt muka panchasati, there had been no
reference to muka kavi being a part of the kanchi parampara. But that
argument is not sufficient to prove that muka kavi did not belong to the
kanchi mutt. Dont you think so ?

What about the Kanchi Mutt version about Vidya Theertha and Vedanta
> Desika?
>

Kanchi mutt should answer that..

I would beg your assistance in getting this clarified. Being such a strong believer of the Mutt's traditions, I hope you will be able to get the clarifications from the authorities concerned. Thanks in advance.
   
   
  
You should be aware that even in the recent years books elaborating on
> some of the above " theories" are being published by the Kanchi Mutt.



Please give references of the books when you mention thus..


So tempering and concern about threat to Hinduism should start with
> everyone.
>
> We are after all a forum with a few hundred truth-seekers.


Is this the way you seek truth ???

It will be clear from the above that certainly I am not the one with
> admirable fantasizing skills.


you bet !!!


B Shridhar wrote:
> Where is this theory of 5 sankaras that you mention? is this theory
> yours?
> I fear that the person who must have taught you about panchadasi must have
> forgot to tell you about Muka kavi belonging to the kanchi parampara. Your
> insufficient knowledge cannot be a basis of incorrect history.
> There has been never a doubt about Bhagavan Bhodendra not to belong to the
> Kanchi parampara even in Govindapuram. Which book before 50 years are you
> talking about not mentioning the same.
> Further do you think that the Kudali mutt has just appeared now?
> Your words are just hearsay and just have no basis even for an argument.
> Please kindly give sufficient references before you make statements
>
> B. Shridhar
>
>
> On 10/7/06, vijay kartik wrote:
> >
> > There is this famous theory which says that there were at least 5
> Sankaras
> > whom people confuse with the original Sankara.
> >
> > This includes Muka Sankara who wrote Muka Panchasati
> > and Abhinava Sankara who is said to haved lived between 788 AD and 820
> > AD and who is claimed to be the reason for confusion with Adi Sankara
> who
> > actually lived 2500 years back etc......
> >
> > The strange thing is all the 5 Sankaras only lived in Kanchi and nowhere
> > else.
> >
> > I have always learnt in my younger days that Mukapanchasati was written
> > by Muka Kavi and no reference to Kanchi parampara. But nowadays it is
> > different. Same is the case with Bhagavannama Bodhendra. Books before 50
> > years or so did not mention any Kanchi mutt affiliation to Bodhendra but
> > nowadays it is different.
> >
> > Then there is suddenly "research " about how Sankara established a mutt
> > not at Sringeri but only at Kudali and how Kanchi Mutt strongly
> patronised
> > the Swamijis of the Kudali Mutt and spread messages in Chennai even in
> > 1960's that Kudali alone is the true mutt and not Sringeri ....
> >
> > A select group of"reputed scholars" have been propagating new versions
> > such as above since the 1950's and it is no secret who used to patronise
> > these "scholars".
> >
> > On a slightly different note, how many of us know that Vedanata Desika
> > was trained by a guru of the Kanchi Mutt- this is what the Kanchi mutt
> > website says. Not just that- the Guru who taught him was Vidya Sankara
> who
> > actually was a Guru of the Sringeri Mutt and in whose memory the famous
> > Vidya Sankara temple stands.
> >
> > Do the Vaishnavas agree to this part about Desika? I am quite curious.
> >
> > You keep saying the same thing over and over and you say it through
> > people who carry credibility-- everything becomes history and truth.
> >
> >
> > Vijay Kartik
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Shyam Subramanian wrote:
> > vijay kartik wrote:
> > > One hates to say this, but certainly a lot of "sponsored research" was
> > conducted and published in the last century on some of these topics
> relating
> > to Sankara's life.
> > >
> > > Lots of new theories and evidence was brought out suddenly in the last
> > century ,each one of these reports reinforcing what another research
> report
> > said. The irony is, a lot of these reports sought to bring versions of
> > Sankara's life almost unknown till that time.
> > >
> > > The added irony is that, anyone who tries to highlight the conflicts
> of
> > these reports with accepted traditions/ known history is branded as
> negative
> > and narrow-minded.
> > >
> > Don't you think it is necessary to give some references when you make
> > such claims, especially for the benefit of the kanchi matha supporters
> > (who obviously have no reason to believe or reject it otherwise). FYI, I
> > am a devotee of the sringeri matha. (and yes, you are not explicitly
> > mentioning kanchi here but your first line and previous mails do
> > indicate so).
> >
> > Regarding W.R.Antarkar, some of Antarkar's papers, especially the ones
> > relating to the sankara vijayams are at http://www.easterntradition.org
> > , (a website hosted by people who believe in the 5BCE date for adi
> > sankara but who simultaneously reject his writing of the bhashyas!).
> > This website also has Narayana Sastri's "The Age of Sankara" which (in
> > my opinion strictly) is so full of bias in its criticism of the
> > madhaviyam and the sringeri matha that even Antarkar rejects Sastri's
> > claims about the madhaviyam (though he does consider it again at the
> > end). Some of the contents of Sri Vidyasankar's paper (and counterpoints
> > by Sri Ravishankar and further replies by Vidyasankar) are at
> > http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2005-January.txt.gz
> > (search for "sankaravijaya texts") and at
> > http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2000-June/001047.html.
> > His criticism of Antarkar is not there but he gives his refutations to
> > some of the points Antarkar has raised . I request Sri B.Shridhar to
> > read both and check for himself which of the opinions is biased (or
> > rather, more biased).
> >
> > Finally, I would like to add that I do consider SrI candraSekharendra
> > sarasvati to be a jIvanmukta and respect him for being a Srotriya and a
> > brahmanishTha. I would like to ask, as was asked by Sri Amuthan, is a
> > jIvanmukta necessarily a sarvaj~na too?
> >
> > I hope I am being objective here.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Shyam
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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