Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 204

192
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[OCTOBER, 1933
It is hinted by Narayanaśramin in his above-cited words that the epithet om-ity-etad aksaram-ity-adi in Sankara's observation (vedántartha-sára-samgraha-bhatam idam prakaranacatustayam om-ity-etad-akşaram-ity-ady drabhyate) at the beginning of his commentary refers really to the Mândûkyopanişad and should not be construed with prakarana-catustayam, which, as also the word vedántartha-sára-samgraha-bhutam, refers to the four sections of Gauda på da's kårikås. This interpretation is, as already pointed out above, quite untenable. In addition, it may be observed that, in case Narayanaśramin's (and Anandagiri's) view is correct, there would be no necessity at all for Sankara to discuss about sastra and prakarana in the beginning of his commentary. It would have been enough if Sankara had made the usual observations (compare the introduction to his commentary on the Kathopanişad) about the meaning of the word upanigad ; and since the four sections of the kårikås form an appendix to the upanipad, there would be no necessity to discuss anywhere about sastra and prakarana. Moreover, one finds it difficult to believe, as Narayanaśramin and Anandagiri ask one to do, that Gauda pada began his work baldly and strangely, with the words atraite éloká bhavanti. No one has ever begun a book in this manner, and it is certain that Gaudapada too would not.
V. It is, as already observed above, very doubtful if Gauda pada, author of the Agama. sastra, was the grand-teacher of Sankara. In his commentary on GK I, 9, and I, 12, Sankara gives alternative explanations of pâdas cd and the word sarva-drk respectively; this hardly seems consistent in one who was a grand-pupil of the author, and indicates, on the other hand, that there was a fairly long interval between the writing of the book and of the commentary. Similarly, Professors Belvalkar and Ranade too have observed on p. 96 of their History of Philosophy (vol. 2): "The Karikâs have been actually quoted by several early Buddhistic commentators of the Madhyamika school, and dates make it impossible that they should have been produced by a teacher's teacher of a writer of the eighth century, as San. karácârya is usually taken to be." Dr. Walleser, too, similarly opines (op. cit., p. 5 ff.) that the Karikas were written in about 550 A.D. which also makes it improbable that their author Gauda pada was the grand teacher of Sankara.
Dr. Walleser has also expressed (1.c.) the opinion that Gaudapâda is not the name of a man, but is the designation of a school, and that the Kårikås are the work of this school. This opinion seems to be endorsed by Professors Belvalkar and Ranade also who observe (1.c.);"Further, seeing that even the author of the Naiskarmyasiddhi, Suresvarâcârya, refers to these Karikas as expressing the views of the Gaudas as contrasted with the views of the Drávidas (Nais. IV, 41 ff.), a doubt can be, and has been, legitimately expressed as to the authenticity of the tradition which makes an author by name Gaudapâda (the pupil of Suka and the teacher's teacher of the great Sankarácarya) responsible for these so-called "Mândûkya Karikås.'"
This view is based on a misapprehension of Naiskarmyasiddhi, IV, 41-44, which reads as follows:
karya-karana-baddhau táv iøyete viéva-taijasau prajñah kdrana-baddhas tu dvau tau turye na sidhyatah ||41|| anyatha grhnatah svapno nidra tattvam ajánatah viparydse tayoh kşîne turiyam padam aśnute || 42 | tatha Bhagavatpadiyam udáharanam : susuptákhyam tamojñanam bijam svapna-prabodhayoh ". átma-bodha-pradagdham syad bijam dagdham yathábhavam || 43 ||
evam Gaudair Drávidair nak půjyair ayam arthaḥ prakásitaḥ As explained by the commentator Jñanottama, the first two of the above-cited stanzas are from the Gauda pada-kårikås (I. 11; 15) and the third from Bhagavatpada's (i.c., Sankara's) Upadeśasahasri (17.26 of the metrical version); and hence the words Gaudaih and