[Advaita-l] Panchikaranam is prior to Vidyaranya

[V Subrahmanian]

There is a popular text said to be of Shankaracharya by name
'Panchikaranam'.  It is a short text based on the Mandukya Upanishad method
of leading one to the Turiya. There is a Vartika to this text, said to be
of Sureshwaracharya.

https://archive.org/details/Acc.No.6045Panchikaranam1930/page/n1/mode/2up

In the Anubhuti Prakasha, Swami Vidyaranya says while explaining the
Pranava upasana mentioned in the Mundakopanishat (with the bow and arrow
analogy):

Mundaka 63

पञ्चीकृतोक्तमार्गेण प्रणवध्यानमाचरेत् |
ततो जगदधिष्ठानमेकमेव सदेक्ष्यते ||

The aspirant has to meditate upon Brahman with the aid of the Pranava as
taught in the PanchikaraNam. He will then come to a stage when the
substratum of the world, Brahman, is always within his vision.

From this we infer that the text predates Swami Vidyaranya.

warm regards
subbu