SRI ADI SANKARABHAGAVATPADA BIRUDAVALI
Category: Bhagavatpada
A SHORT HISTORY OF JAGATHGURU SRI SANKARACHARYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS
A SHORT HISTORY OF JAGATHGURU SRI SANKARACHARYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS ON HOLY THRONE Compiled By Pandit Ramaswami Sastri with the help of Mahratta Pandits – Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam (1915)
SRI SANKARACHARYA
(Nyaya Chandrika – BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ADVAITA VEDANTA – Author Index – Mahamahopadyaya N.S.Anantakrishna Sastry And K.Ramamurthi Sastri – Madras Govt. Oriental Series, G.O.M.L. Madras, 1959)
प्रातः स्मरणीय..
Adi Sankara Served Cause of Integration
SRI SRINGERI MUTT By R. KRISHNASWAMY AIYAR
” It is idle for us to attempt to fix the exact period of time when the Master blessed the earth with his presence Scholars who have specialised in the ransacking of old records and re-building the history of the land are of varied opinion and the dates suggested by them range from 509 B C. to 788 A D. that is, for a period of nearly thirteen hundred years.
It may be mentioned however that the Sringeri tradition gives a date between these two limits and that date, namely 44 B. C, is probably neater the truth if we accept the authority of Bhaskararaya, the famous commentator of the Lalita Sahasranama Stotra.
If the Vikramarka Saka is referred to in this stanza, the date given for the birth of Sri Sankara is about 49 B. C.”
(SRI SRINGERI MUTT By R. KRISHNASWAMY AIYAR, M.A, B. L., Advocate, Tennevally – The Journal of the Sri Sankara gurukulam Srirangam, Vol. IV, No. 13.)
Sri Sankaracharya’s Disciples…1
The Horoscope of Sankara Bhagavadpada
The Date of Sankara Bhagavadpada has been needlessly drawn into controversy. This is partly due to the unwholesome desire of western scholars to demote Indian Chronology so as to line it up and subordinate it to the Chronology of Greece and partly due to the confusion in the History of India written by the Western historians. Sankara’s Horoscope as given by Citsukhacharya is given below. This is in accordance with what is recorded in the 32nd prakara of his Brihat-Sankara-Vijaya.
Note :- Constellation: Punarvasu 2nd quarter Rising Sun (Lagna) Kataka (cancer)
Time: Just afternoon (Abhijit-Muhurta)
Day: Sunday
Tithi: Panchami, bright half (Suklapaksha)
Month: Visakha
Year: Nandana,
Kali 2593 (509 B.C.)
Yudhistira Saka 2631.
(Date of Sankara By V.G.Ramachandran, Published by International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilizations, Madras – General Editor: Dr.N.Mahalingam, 1985)
SIDELIGHTS ON THE DATE OF SRI SANKARA BHAGAVADPADA
The Guruparampara of Dwaraka Matha is given in the “Vimarsa” published an Acharya of the Matha. This ancient document contains a summary of the dates of the principal events of Sri Bhagavadpada’s life. An abstract of the same is given below:
GANAPATYAM … 3
Shodasa Ganapati Shrine in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Jagadguru Pujyashri Shankaracharya Swami Srimatha, Rameswaram :
Ganapati being the embodied Primordial Sound of Pranava, all the letters 51 in number-are His manifestations; and we have 51 forms of Him (अकारादिक्षकारान्त महा सरस्वतीमय – Sahasranama).
Here we have very close affinity with the Sakti-Religion which also speaks of all varnas as the Divine Mother’s manifestations, in fact their very name is Matrka.
Out of these 51 forms, 32 are singled out for special worship: namely,
1. Bala Gana pati,
2. Taruna Ganapati,
3, Bhakta Ganapati,
4. Vira Ganapati,
5. Sakti Ganapati,
6. Dhvaja Ganapati,
7. Siddhi Ganapati otherwise called Pingala Ganapati,
8. Ucchishta Ganapati,
9. Vighnaraja Ganapati,
10. Kshipra Ganapati,
11. Heramba Gana pati,
12. Lakshmi Ganapati,
13. Maha Ganapati,
14. Vijaya Ganapati also called Bhuvanesa Ganapati,
15. Nrtta Ganapati,
16. Urdhva Ganapati,
17. Ekakshara Ganapati,
18. Vara Ganapati,
19. Tryakshara Ganapati,
20. Khsipra Prasada Ganapati,
21. Haridra Ganapati,
22. Eka Danta Gana pati,
23. Srshiti Ganapati,
24. Uddhanda Ganapati,
25. Rna-mochaka Ganapati,
26 Dundi Ganapati,
27. Dvimukha Ganapati,
28. Trimukha Ganapati,
29. Simha Ganapati,
30. Yoga Ganapati,
31. Durga Ganapati and
32. Sankatahara Ganapati.
Even among these 32 forms, the first 16 are said to confer the highest bounties and they collectively go by the name “Shodasa Ganapatis.”
It speaks volumes of the Grace of Jagadguru His Holiness Sri Chandra sekharendra Sarasvati Sri Padah, that he has installed these sixteen Ganapatis, two in each corner of an octogonal mantapa of chariot shape, in the Ramesvara Sankara Mandapa, which is an epitome of all the wealth that our Vedas and Puranas contain.
In the vimana of this mandapa are also depicted sages deeply devoted to Vignesvara, like Ganaka, Mudgala, who are the Rshis for Ganapati mantras. Here there is also a replica of the Gavaksha (window) of Tiruvalanchuzhi, which is spoken of as one of the four inimitables of our temple archi tecture. Centrally amidst the Shodasa Ganapatis is
installed a Ganapati who faces the seas-Thus a ‘gana’ of Ganapatis (a Host of the Lord of Hosts) is installed here!
– Sankarakinkara – Sankara And Shanmata (1959)
