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One of India's most golden periods was when Adi Shankaracharya walked across India. How does one date that event?

Author:
Publication: Myind.net
Date:  July 15, 2018
URL:      https://www.myind.net/Home/viewArticle/one-of-indias-most-golden-periods-was-when-adi-shankaracharya-walked-across-india-how-does-one-date-that-event

Recently, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced that the government would celebrate Adi Shankaracharya’s Jayanti. Apart from looking it from a political lens, if one sees it through a historical one, it is nothing less than a discombobulation, as even after so many years, we do not know his period. Scholars, astrologers, spiritual heads- all have talked about this. Therefore, it would be evident for us to look at the different view-points and attempt to arrive at a logical conclusion.

Adi Shankara was one of the brightest minds who walked on the soil of Bharat. He propounded the philosophy of non-dualism or Advaitha. Probably, he followed his teachings to the fullest extent. The Guru has not mentioned about his life anywhere, including his birth, as he propagated that ‘the self’ neither has birth nor death. We know about Adi Shankara from the works of his disciples. His disciples have written the biography of Adi Shankara in their works titled ‘Shankara Vijaya’. There is more or less an unanimous opinion that Adi Shankara was born in Kalady, Kerala. Adi Shankara established four mutts, each in Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Badrinath. He established the last one in Kanchi. He is believed to have toured the whole of India and debated and discussed about philosophy among other things. It is said, he is responsible for revival of Hinduism, when Buddhism was wide spread in India- All of these within a short span of 32 years.

Coming to the core issue, Adi Shankara’s period has been debated and discussed since 1880s. Max Muller assigned 788 CE as the birth year of Adi Shankara. Several western scholars agree with Max Muller on the date. Even Sringeri mutt, which used 44 BCE as Adi Shankara’s birth year, has recently accepted 788 CE as being accurate. However, Kanchi and Dwarka mutts believe 509 BCE is the birth year of Adi Shankara. This article attempts to only determine the year of birth and does not intend to discard any view point.

Dr.Radhakrishnan in his work ‘Indian Philosophy- Volume II,’ says that Max Muller and Professor Keith assign 788 CE as the birth year of Adi Shankara and further says Adi Shankara is believed to have lived till 820 CE. K B Pathak also assigns 820 CE as the year of death of Adi Shankara based on a manuscript which he discovered. The manuscript belonged to one Govinda Bhattar of Belgaum.  A shloka in the manuscript mentions Adi Shankara’s year of birth as Kali year 3889 and year of death as Kali year 3921. This translates to 788 CE and 820 CE respectively. P Sundaram Pillai, in the journal ‘The Indian Antiquary Volume-XXVI’ says, “The only date yet assigned to Acharya (Adi Shankara) with any degree of probability is that of Mr.K B Pathak, according to whom Samkara must have died in 820 CE”. Another reason to assign 8th and 9th century for Adi Shankara is that he has countered doctrines of Nagarjuna and Asanga. However, it is to be noted that he has not mentioned Nagarjuna or Asanga by name in his works.

Pandit Kota Venkata Chelam disagrees with the above mentioned period of 788 CE and 820 CE for Adi Shankara. He relies on ‘Brihat Shankara Vijaya’ of Chitsukhacharya who was associated with Adi Shankara since the age of five. In his authoritative work, Chitsukhacharya has mentioned the date of birth of Adi Shankara as “On Sunday, Vaisakha Sukla Panchami in the constellation and Lagna of Dhanus in the year Nandana, a son was born to Sivaguru and he was named ‘Sankara’ by his father in 2593 Kali”. 2593 Kali year translates to 509 BCE. Apart from this, Venkata Chelam also refers to ‘Nepalaraja Vamsavali’ which states: "Adi Sankaracharya came from the South and destroyed the Buddha faith in the Kali year 2641” which is 487 BCE. It is also said that during this period, the ruler of Nepal was Vrishadeva Verma. Pandit Venkata Chelam also points out to the Shankaracharya temple in Kashmir. It is said that the temple was built by Gopaditya who reigned Kashmir between 368 BCE to 308 BCE. Therefore, Adi Shankara should have lived before king Gopaditya. Due to the above mentioned reasons, Pandit Venkata Chelam concludes that the period of Adi Shankara is 509 BCE to 477 BCE. Carbon dating of sand near river Kalady has proven that the river is at least 2500 years old. There is a legend that Adi Shankara diverted the river to flow to Kalady. This corresponds to the period of 509 BCE to 477 BCE.

B V Raman, in his work ‘Notable Horoscopes’ discusses the horoscope of great personalities who have walked on earth. He assigns 25 March 44 BCE as the date of birth of Adi Shankara. He notes, “A careful study of such authorities as oankaravtjayas of Madhavacharya, Anandagiri and Chidvilasa, Punya-sloka Manjari and the Guru Parampara list preserved in Sringeri Mutt reveals that Sankara was born definitely before Christ and not in the 7th or 8th century AD as oriental scholars—Indian and European—have made out. It looks as though these scholars have confused Adi Sankara with his name-sake Abhinava Sankara who was the Guru of Kamakoti-peetha and the 36th in succession to Adi Sankara.” He also says Adi Shankara should have lived during the period of Vikramaditya as the Guruparampara list preserved by Sringeri mutt says Shankara was born on the 5th day of bright half of lunar month of Vaishaka in the cyclic year Eswara in Vikrama 14 which corresponds to 25 March 44 BCE.

After taking into consideration all the view points and propositions of notable scholars, it is not easy for us to conclude anything decisively. Except Sringeri mutt, other mutts have had more than 50 successors to Adi Shankaracharya. Kanchi mutt has had 69 pontiffs while Govardhan mutt at Puri has had 145 pontiffs. Assuming Adi Shankara’s period is between 788 CE to 820 CE, the average period of each of his successor at Kanchi would be 17 years. It would be just 8 years at Govardhan mutt in Puri. This is too short a period for a pontiff considering the fact that all the names mentioned in the list are real. Another reason why it seems anachronic to place Adi Shankara in 8th or 9th century is the fact that Buddhism as a religion was already in decline by then. Why would a scholar of such intellect preach against a religion which was already in decline? It is also surprising that Adi Shankara does not refer to Christianity in his works which had already arrived in India by 8th century, considering he is from Kerala where Christianity arrived first. These doubts are unanswered. Kanchi seer had said “……‘misrepresentation’ of the birth year of Adi Sankaracharya which was the handiwork of Westerners to post-date any such major event after the birth of Jesus Christ so as to establish their supremacy”. Probably this could have been another instance where the west has tried to fabricate falsehoods about our history. Therefore, the only thing which we can conclude is that more and more research is needed on ascertaining the period of Adi Shankara. Though one may say it is irrelevant as it is important to focus on his teachings, for an enthusiast of history, it is important to study the past of our society and arrange the events chronologically to see how the civilization has evolved intellectually.

 

 
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