Adi Shankara
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via Wikipedia: Adi Shankara · see source
Scholarly-accepted dating places him in the first half of the 8th century CE.[1]
Life and work
At age eight, a crocodile story in every hagiography leads to his mother permitting him to become a religious ascetic.[2] He became the disciple of a teacher named Govinda Bhagavatpada.[3] Works widely accepted as authentic include the Brahmasutrabhasya and commentaries on ten principal Upanishads.[4] Hagiographies portray Shankara as having an early inclination toward the life of a Sannyasa (hermit).[2]
His genuine writings synthesize inherited Advaita Vedanta teachings, with liberating self-knowledge as their central focus.[5] More than 300 texts are credited to him, but the majority were probably authored by admirers or scholars sharing his name.[4]
What the cited sources add
The Govardhan Math website describes Shankara as an embodiment of Lord Shiva who re-established Sanatana Dharma within sixteen years.[6] From age 5 to 8 he learned Vedas, Vedanga, Dharma Shastra, Purana, Itihasa and Budhagama.[6] The Shringeri Math claims Shankaracharya lived even before the Buddha, 2,500 years ago.[7] Devdutt Pattanaik notes that hagiographies were composed by monastic orders living in and around the Vijayanagara Empire.[7]
Vidyasankar states the bRhat Sankaravijaya by brahmAnanda sarasvatI dates from the 17th or 18th century.[8] The cidvilAsIya Sankaravijaya was probably written between the 15th and 17th centuries.[8] A 17th-century author named rAjacUDAmaNi dIkshita wrote a short hagiographical poem named SankarAbhyudaya.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Adi Shankara" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82; Comans 2000, p. 163; Mayeda 2006, p. 6–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Adi Shankara" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Adi Shankara" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82; Pande 2011, p. 35; Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82; Pande 2011, p. 35 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Adi Shankara" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mayeda 2006, p. 6–7; Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82; Hacker 1995, p. 29–30; Halbfass 1983; Mayeda 2006, p. 6–7; Mayeda 2006, p. 6–7; Hacker 1995, p. 29–30; Rambachan 1991, p. xii–xiii; Halbfass 1990, p. 205–208; Koller 2007, p. 98–106; Grimes 2004; Shah-Kazemi 2006, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Adi Shankara" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nakamura 2004, p. 678–679; Koller 2007, p. 98–106; Nakamura 1999, p. 176; Mayeda 1992, p. XV; Comans 2000, p. 163; Chattopadhyaya 2000; Shcherbatsky 1927, p. 44–45; Dasgupta 1997, p. 494; Biderman 1978, p. 405–413; Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82; King 1995, p. 183; Isaeva 1993, p. 69–82 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Adi Shankaracharya", Govardhan Math. facts only, no text reused. govardhanpeeth.org
- Devdutt Pattanaik (20 August, 2023), Lives of Adi Shankaracharya, mid-day. facts only, no text reused. mid-day.com
- Vidyasankar, S., "The Sankaravijaya literature". facts only, no text reused. advaita-vedanta.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Adi Shankara (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Adi Shankara (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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