The Nyaya / Vaisheshika Darshanas (Guest post by R. Ramanathan)

The Nyaya & Vaisheshika darshanas are astika  darshanas (That agree with Vedic authority) that used “Realism” to explain worldly phenomenon and also provided solution as to how does one attain Moksha (known as Apavarga) from worldly life. Other darshanas like Sankhya Yoga etc used “idealism” to explain worldly phenomenon.  Sage Gautama wrote the Nyaya sutras on which the Nyaya darshana or what is called as “Prachina Nyaya” or “Ancient Nyaya”, was formalized. The Vaisheshika darshana was established on the Vaisheshika sutras were written by Sage Kaanatha.

Nyaya darshana 

This is more concerned with epistemological analysis (Sources of right knowledge), or “Pramana Shashtra”. There are 4 pramanas or valid sources of knowledge as per Nyaya

1.     Pratyaksha (Direct perception)

2.     Anumana inference

3.     Upamana(Comparision)

4.     Oral testimony (Shruti or statements of trustworthy people)

Moksha according Nyaya was attained via correct knowledge and removal of delusion. This resulted in acquiring the correct knowledge of the “Atman “or self.  Gautama also in the Nyaya sutras recommends Yogic practices to attain self-knowledge or Atma saakshatkaara (Nyaya sutras 4.2.46). Nyaya does not accept of the existence of a bliss in Moksha. Naiyayikas accept god and have tried to use logic to prove the existence of god.

The main contribution of Nyaya is the 5-part Syllogism called “Pancha Avayava Nyaya”. They are,

1.     The Pratijna (Proposition) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.33

2.     The Hetu (Reason or middle term) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.34 and 35

3.     Udaharanam (Example) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.36 and 37

4.     Upanayah (Application) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.38

5.     Nigamanam (Conclusion) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.39

We will see this in detail in the subsequent article.

 Vaisheshika darshana 

This deals more with the physical world and can be called “Pada Shastra” or the science of categories.  The Vaisheshika school postulates one of the most ancient “Atomic theory”. This school accepts that matter especially, the first 4 pancha bhootas, air, fire, water and earth are composed of atoms. The smallest indivisible atom being called a paramaanu which is eternal. This paramaanu combines to form “Dvyanu” or a diad of atoms, “Tryanu” or triad and so on. Also, it deals with many physical phenomena like the absorption of water in the stem of a plant and so on. Vaisheshika accepts only 2 pramanas

1.     Pratyaksha (Direct perception)

2.     Anumana(Inference)

Vaisheshika too accepts and Ishvara, who is the arranger of atoms (Note, not the creator of atoms). Moksha in Vaisheshika as per the Vaisheshika sutras is atma sakshakaara through correct knowledge and removal of delusion.  The difference between Moksha in Nyaya and Vaisheshika’s is that Vaisheshikas accept an experience “Bliss” in Moksha

Similarities between Nyaya and Vaisheshika

1.     Both accept and logically prove god as creator of world

2.     Both accept Vedic authority but argue that the Veda is not eternal but have an author

3.     Both accept ignorance as cause of all suffering

4.     Both believe the individual self is eternal, pervasive and infinite

5.     Both believe in plurality of Jivatmas

6.     Both believe in moksha for the Atman

Differences between Nyaya and Vaisheshika

1.     Nyaya accepts 4 pramanas, Vaisheshika accepts 2 pramanas

2.     Nyaya deals with pramana shastra and logic. Vaisheshika with ontology or Padaarthas

Prachina Nyaya is very abstruse and difficult to understand an apply. Thus, In the 13^th century Gangesha in his work “Tathva Chintamani”, fused both Nyaaya and Vaisheshika to originate what was called “Navya Nyaya”. 

Later Raghunatha Shiromani, Gadhadhara Bhattacharya, Vasudeva Sarvabhauma etc all formalized this school. Navya Nyaya was really a versatile tool and it could be used to solve problems using inference and logic.  No wonder many other fields were affected by this. This approached spawned of a “Navya Vyaakarana” and a “Navya Mimamsa”.  This even spread to Kavya, alankara shastra etc.

The Dvaita vedanta school of Madhvacharya started adopting navya nyaya to formalize their schools. Vyasatheerta an acharya of the Madhva sampradaya, wrote Nayaymruta that condemned Advaita. It was almost shaken to its roots until Madhusudhana Saraswati of Bengal, using the same Navya Nyaya gave a rebuttal to the Nayamrutaa, with his work “Advaitasiddhi”.

So, for the purpose of this article we will be discussing Navya Nyaya only as the praachina Nyaya sutras and Vaisheshika sutras are too abstruse and complex to understand now.

Annam Bhatta around the 17^th century composed a work called “Tarka Sangraha”, a very simple book based on Navya Nyaya, intended as per his Mangala shloka, “To teach Nyaya very comfortably to children”. “Tarka” is another synonym for Nyaya. Generally, the word means “Debate”, “logic”, “Inference” etc.  This is the book that is currently taught as a beginner’s text and so the concepts referenced in this article are from that book.

To be continued…

 (PS: Click the tag 'R. Ramanathan' in the side bar to read other articles by Sri. R. Ramanathan)

 

Astika darshanas: A primer (Guest post by R. Ramanathan)

The 4 Vedas contain the mystical/spiritual experiences of various Rishis. Most of these are in the form of Mantras addressed to a deity or devata. The Veda also has a detailed description of rituals called Yajnas to attain.  Apart from these there are a large body of texts called the Upanishads most of which appear at the end of each Vedic recension (Of course there are exceptions) that discuss esoteric spiritual doctrines, like self-realization etc. Also discussed are a multitude of topics like morals/ethics for every day living, astronomy, Grammar etc.

Many sages and thinkers had various views of what the Veda had to say in finality. These views over time started to crystalize into concrete systems of thought called “Darshanas”.   The Sanskrit word Darshana means literally view or insight. Note that the view Darshana is not same as the word Philosophy. “Philosophy” in the western tradition, is mainly intellectual. It does not seem to concern itself with teleological problems, AKA in the Vedic tradition as attainment of Moksha or relief from existential problems. A darshana discusses existential problems and proposes solutions for the same. So, I will refrain from using the term “Philosophy” here.

There are 6 Astika Darshanas

1.     Nyaya also called Anvikshiki or logic

2.     Vaisheshika, actually the study of mater discusses physical phenomenon)

3.     Sankhya, Enumeration or counting of various tattvas and through this separation of existence from matter, through intellectual enquiry alone.

4.     Yoga, a practical application of Sankhya to attain kaivalya or apavarga(Moksha)

5.     Poorva Mimamsa, a hermeneutical system concerned with interpretation of Vedic statements, used for correct performance of Vedic rituals and to attain the fruits of those performances.

6.     Uttar Mimamsa, popularly known as Vedanta now, concerned with the relation of the Jivatma and paramatma and how can apavarga or Moksha be attained.

All these 6 Darshanas are based on the authority of the Veda and hence called “Astika” as they accept the statements of the Veda like the existence of the Atma, Dharma etc. Note Astika does not mean the acceptance of a god as commonly understood. Some Darshanas do not accept a god or just barely mention his existence. This article is just a primer or an introduction to each Darshana and does not go into detail of each. That would need a separate article of its own.  Neither is the concept of pramanas introduced here. It will be done in detail in another article

Nyaya

The Nyaya system (Literally meaning “Rules” or “Justice”) concerns itself with epistemology or what is called “Pramana” and logic, called syllogism in the west. Sage Gautama has written the Nyaya sutras which discusses the 16 categories called “Padaartha”. These sutras are called “Praachina Nyaya” or ancient Nyaya, which is different from Navya Nyaya in vogue at present
 Naiyayikas (People who follow the Nyaya Darshana) hold that human suffering is due to the mistakes/defects produced by actions with the “Wrong knowledge”. Moksha according to them is the gaining of the right knowledge thus being able to avoid pain in the future. Thus, this theory is based on realism.

Nyaya has contributed the “Five-part syllogism” as to how does one arrive at an inference, that involves,

1.     Pratijna, the statement to be proved

2.     Hetu, the reason

3.     Udaharana another similar example to the Pratijna

4.     Upanaya reaffirmation

5.     Nigamana or conclusion

All this to be discussed in detail later. Note the Dvaita Vedanta school is heavily reliant on the Navya Nyaya or “New school of Nyaya”

Vaisheshika

The Vaisheshika darshana is a naturalistic system. Rishi Kanaata Kashyapa wrote the Vaisheshika sutras.  Vaisheshika accepts 7 categories of substances unlike Nyaya. The Vaisheshikas propose that the physical universe is reducible to the paramanu, the smallest atom. The entire universe is built up by a combination of various atoms. Worldly experiences arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms, their number etc. Many interesting phenomena like gravity, the absorption of water by plant stems etc are taken up for discussion. The Vaisheshikas propose that Moksha can be attained by a complete understanding of the worldly experience. The Vaisheshika sutras even advocate following the meditative practices of the “Yogachaara” school of Buddhism for Moksha.

In the 13^th century after the CE Nyaya and Vaisheshika fused into a single school called Navya Nyaya resulting in the classical Nyaya darshana. This was the accomplishment of one Gangesha Upadhyaya of Mithila desha, though his book Tattvachintamani. Navya-Nyāya developed a sophisticated language and conceptual scheme that allowed it to raise, analyse, and solve problems in logic and epistemology.

Sankhya

This darshana views reality composed of 2 independent principles.

1.     Prakriti, nature or matter, including the human mind

2.     Purusha, is the witnessing conscious entity. It is independent of matter and above the experience of the senses or the mind

When prakriti is in an unmanifested state, the 3 gunas Satva, Rajas and Tamas are in equilibrium. But due to some reason if Prakriti comes into contact with purusha, mayhem starts and prakriti manifests into 23 tatvas.
1. Intellect 2. Ego 3. Mind 4. The five sensory capacities known as ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose 5. The five action capacities known as hasta, pada, bak, anus, and upastha 6. The 5 subtle tanmatras, which are the seeds for the gross elements like space, earth, fire, water, air etc

Thus, all human experiences can be considered to be the interaction between prakriti and purusha.  Ignorance of the Purusha that it is unattached with matter is the cause for suffering. Moksha consists of understanding that the purusha is independent of prakriti.

Sage Kapila is supposed to have composed the Sankhya sutras and Ishvara Krishna supposed to have composed a Karika for this. Note that there are both theistic and atheistic schools of Sankhya. Generally, the Sankhya Sutras and Karika do not accept a god but accept mature individuals who attain to the level of gods. The Bhagavata purana teaches a theistic version of Sankhya adding “Ishvara” or god to the 23 evolutes of prakriti. Note that advaita and Vishistadvaita vedantas owe their existence to the sankhya darshanas as they accept many aspects of material creation. Advaita especially relies on sankya for the ideas of Avidya, gunas and the idea that moksha can be attained with intellectual enquiry alone.

Yoga

This is one of the most presently popular darshanas
especially in the west. Note there are different schools of Yoga like the Shaivite school, schools from various Agamas etc. But specifically, when Yoga is meant as a darshana, it is based on the yoga sutras of Patanjali. 

This is also popularly known as the Ashtanga yoga school, or the yoga of 8 limbs. The theoretical frame for the yoga sutra is Sankhya and the definition of moksha in yoga is the same as in Sankhya . The eight limbs are,

1. Yama 2. Niyama 3. Asana 4. Pranayama 5. Pratyahara 6. Dharana 7. Dhyana 8. Samadhi

The 1^st two limbs mostly prescribe the ethical and moral purity one needs to follow like, non-covetousness, control of senses, charity etc. Patanjali accepts an Ishvara and he is characterized by his syllable “OM”. Ishvara pranidhana or dedication to Ishvara is one of the steps mentioned as part of Niyama.  Note that Patanjali though mentions an Ishvara, he never mentions him as the bestowing moksha.

The 3^rd step is the most popular one, again especially in the West where Yoga has become synonymous with Asana. Various complex poses are taught in the west, which are not mentioned by Patanjali. They are found in the Hata Yoga pradeepaka or the Geeranda Samhita, basically Hata yoga texts, which again are purificatory texts to make the aspirant fit for Ashatanga yoga. Patanjali only prescribes “Sukhasana” or just a comfortable pose for meditation.

The 4^th step is pranayama which involves breath control.

The 5^th step involves withdrawal of the senses.

The 6^th step sublimating the mind such that it can contemplate steadily on the goal, without breaking. Just a like when oil is poured the oil flows steadily without a break.

The 7^th step is focussing the mind on the purusha.

The last step is when the mind has ceased its vacillations and the Purusha alone shines forth, separated from Prakriti. This is the state of Moksha or apavarga or Kaivalya. At this stage the sadhaka is freed from the cares of worldly existence.

Note Patanjali Yoga sutras also discusses about various yoga siddhis or powers to be attained but those are distractions to the main goal.

Poorva Mimamsa

This darshana is a hermeneutical school that concerns itself with the correct performance of various rites prescribed in the Veda to attain various fruits like heaven, progeny, wealth. Rishi Jaimini is the pioneer of this school, having composed the Poorva Mimamsa sutras. Among the four human purushartas or goals, this darshana concerns itself with a deeper enquiry of dharma. This school postulates that through Dharma one can attain higher regions of experience thus reducing the pain of earthly existence.

This darshans has developed sophisticated rules based on grammar and logic along with its own rules for sentence interpretation. Mimamsa is especially concerned with correct sentence formation. Whereas grammar or Vyakarana is concerned with the origin of words.

Note that Jaimini does not care much to discuss about moksha in the poorva mimamsa sutras or does not postulate the need for a God to disburse the fruits of vedic karma to their performers. According to this school Moksha is an extreme state of absence of pain. Moksha can happen only when the individual soul has zeroed down its karmic balance. Thus, one has to continue to perform his mandated Vedic rite without expecting fruits to keep sin at bay and avoid performing karma with desire. Thus, when the resultant karmic balance is zero, one attains moksha, a state where one is not born again.

After Jaimini and in the medieval times, many theistic schools of Poorva mimamsa came into being. Like Vedant deshikas “Seshvara mimamsa” etc.

This school has a sophisticated language theory. This has resulted in this school being used in artificial intelligence. One such application is the usage of the tenets of this darshana to teach unmanned cars ethics, using what is called deontic logic. For more info go to https://mimamsa.logic.at/

Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta

This also a very popular darshana in modern times, especially advaita Vedanta. This darshana mainly talks about Moksha based on the Upanishads, Brahma sutra and the Bhagavat Geetha called prasthana trayam.  There are 3 main schools of Vedanta

Advaita:
The most famous proponent of this darshana is Shankaracharya. He wrote a commentary from an Advaitic perspective for the Brahma sutras, Upanishads an the Geetha. Note that advaita existed even before Shankara. For example, it is evident from the Vaakypadiya text from Bartruhari the celebrated Grammarian that, even Vaiyakaranas or grammarians followed advaita with some differences from the Shankara school.

This school considers the Jivatman(Individual self) and he paramatman(Supreme self) to be one. Moksha is the realization by the Jiva that he is not limited and is not different from the paramatma in terms of consciousness. As per the Shankara school, worldly experiences happen due to the misidentification of the individual self with the body. Moksha can be attained now in this life by realizing that one is not the body but the eternal atman. On loosing one’s identity with the body one enters a state of tranquillity. Advaita can be theistic or atheistic as moksha is not dependant on an Ishvare. Shankar prefers a theistic approach, where the grace of god is needed to realizing one’s own self as the “parabrahman”. Texts like the Yoga Vasishta explicitly state that such a realization is one’s own effort.

Vishistadvaita
Ramanuja was the main proponent of this school and wrote commentaries for the Brahma sutra, Geetha and the Upanishads from a Vishitadvait perspective. But through the compositions of the Azhwars or vaishnavite saints, called Divya prabhandam, the school existed earlier than Ramanuja. This school is a theistic school of Vedanta as it posits that Ishvara can only bestow moksha.  According to this darshana, the Jiva is an amsha of the paramatma, just like small sparks are an amsha of the main fire source. This school of Vedanta prescribes sharanagati or surrendering to Ishvara and a lifelong service to him. After the present life is over, the devotee reaches vaikuntam and enjoys the bliss of the lord, still maintaining his distinct identity with Ishvara.

Dvaita:
This too is a theistic school and presupposes a God that can give Moksha. The main acharya of this school is Madhvacharya who again wrote a commentary on the Prasthana trayam from a Dvaitic point of view. This school is heavily based on Nyaya. This school consider the Jiva and paramatma to be entirely different. It mainly teaches the differences between matter, individual Jivas and paramatma. Moksha according to this school can be attained with the grace of Hari and Krishna Bhakti. After the present life ends the devotee attains the abode of Ishvara and each devotee enjoys bliss in proportion to the capability of the Individual jivas, the separation between Jiva and Ishvara Astika Darshanas – Ramanathan intact.

Note each school of Vedanta have different sub sects and this article will not discuss all that.

Date of Adi Shankaracharya

 Previous article

A great feature of Adi Shankara’s birth date is that almost all the ancient authors are unanimous on the Panchanga features of his date of birth. His year of birth is admitted as Nandana, the tithi was Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, his birth star being Punarvasu and the weekday being Sunday. This is authenticated in ‘Brihat Shankara Vijaya’ by Citsukhacharya, the boyhood companion of Adi Shankara and ‘Shankara Vijaya’ by Cidvilasa. (page 21, “Date of Shankara”, edited by N. Mahalingam)

While the availability of the Panchanga features seem to offer the best means to find out the date using the astrology software, we come across lot more information – contradictory to each other in the works of ancient authors. These are about the planetary combinations in the birth time horoscope of Adi Shankara. For example, Madhaviya Shankara Vijaya offers the planetary combinations that are similar to Rama’s horoscope. It is reproduced below. The Kali year is given as 2593. Deducted from 3101 BCE, the date was 508 BCE. (From p.16, “The Traditional Age of Sri Shankaracharya and the Mathas” by A. Nataraja Iyer and S. Lakshminarasimha Sastri)

                                                From Madhaviya Shankara Vijayam

The year tallied with Nandana Varusham but the planetary combinations are totally different. Saturn was shown to be in exaltation in Libra whereas it was in Pisces in that year. Before producing the horoscopic combination from the software, let me introduce another horoscope, this one given by Citsukhacharya and quoted by N. Mahalingam in his book and also produced with the exact verse by T.S. Narayana Sastry (pp. 39, 40)

The Panchanga details are given. The planetary positions slightly differ from Madhaviya’s Shankara Vijayam. This horoscope also seems to be created to emulate Rama’s horoscope.

The date is given in Yudhishthira Shaka but the author (T.S. Narayana Sastry) has counted it from before Kali Yuga. This is a major error found in most books on the date of Adi Shankara. The writers of the modern times have interpreted Yudhishthira Shaka as being different from Kali Yuga, whereas the fact is that the Yudhishthira Shaka was the first shaka (sub-division) of the Kali Yuga. It did not start from the time Yudhishthira won the Mahabharata war and ascended the throne. Dwapara Yuga was running then and there was no Kali Yuga then. Kali Yuga started only on the exit of Krishna from whence the counting of the first Shaka, namely, Yudhishthira Shaka began. To explain this let me show the duration of the each of the six shaka-s of Kali yuga which when totalled together gives rise to 4,32,000 years.

The count of Yudhishthira Shaka starts from the 1^st year of Kali Yuga, but almost all the authors have counted from a previous time – not even knowing when the Mahabharata war ended. It was really shocking to know that scholars have dated Adi Shankara without even knowing what the Yudhishthira Shaka year means. Yudhisthira Shaka 2631 means 470 BCE (3101 BCE - 2361) which was Pramoda year, not Nandana.

Now having shown two oft quoted horoscopes from Madhaviya Shankara Vijaya and Citsukhacharya’s Shankara Vijaya, let me reproduce what the same date shows. I checked for both Drik ayanamsa and Surya Siddhanta (SS) Ayanamsa to get the Panchanga details intact. The following is for SS ayanamsa.

                                

I produced the same for Drik Ayanamsa which showed the same date, March 28^th in 508 BCE, but the weekday was Monday and not Sunday. The star was Arudra. The planetary combinations were not at all as shown by Madhaviya or Citsukhacharya.

                                    

The most important date features, particularly the star and weekday do not match for these years.

The data in possession of Sringeri Matha is also that of Citsukhacharya’s Brihat Shankara Vijaya but the scholars have deduced the year 44 BCE for those details. It is reproduced below.

                                

The year Dhata was running in 44 BCE, not Nandana. The weekday and star of the day do not match with Adi Shankara’s birth details.

The Dwaraka Peeth also gives the same information as that of Citsukhacharya (provided by Kanchi Mutt) that Adi Shankara was born in Nandana year, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami in Yudhishthira Shaka 2631. The year was 470 BCE which was Pramoda. If by chance the year was more by one, then also it was not Nandana, but Shukla year. For 470 BCE, the details are as follows:

                          

I produced for 471 BCE also.

The Govardhan Mutt also provides the same kind of birth details and horoscopy details like Kanchi and Dwaraka Matha-s. We must note that the Panchanga details are the same in all the Matha-s. Even today Shankara Jayanti is celebrated on Shukla Panchami / Punarvasu star, but the planetary combinations are certainly not exactly recorded.  As far as Jyothir Mutt is concerned, the birth details are not available. All the Matha-s, particularly, Kanchi Matha adopted 509 BCE based on the following input on the Chronogram.

The year of birth of Adi Shankara is given as Chronogram which read as 2593. Counted from the beginning of Kali Yuga, this is 508 BCE (3101- 2593). The year was Nandana, but the star was not Punarvasu as shown earlier. For long, the year was taken as 509 BCE by deducting from 3201 BCE which is not the beginning of Kali Yuga, and which gave the year Khara and not Nandana.

Thus, there is a severe dichotomy in deriving the date. First of all, the date features have not tallied for any of the years given by the scholars or Matha-s. Secondly the horoscopic features do not tally for the year 508 BCE derived from the chronogram. With the date features not tallying for that year, there is a greater chance for an error in the chronogram too, because it is all about exchanging the words. Therefore, the best way is to search for the date that combines Nandana year, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Punarvasu and Sunday. The time is given as Abhijit Muhurtha in many chronicles and as Dhanur in some. We will check them all to find out the exact date matching with the birth details.

I checked for a 1000-year period from 500 BCE to 500 CE for both Drik and SS ayanamsa.

The following dates had the features closely, though only one year matched with all the details.

1.     March 28, 508 BCE, 12-30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Monday, Arudra (Drik & SS)

2.     March 27, 448 BCE, 12-30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Thursday, Arudra (Drik & SS)

3.     April 21, 388 BCE, 12-30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Chaturthi, Saturday, Punarvasu (Drik & SS)

4.     March 19, 328 BCE, 12- 30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Saturday, Mrigashirsha (Drik & SS)

5.     April 13, 208 BCE, 12- 30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Friday, Punarvasu (Drik & SS)

6.     April 11, 148 BCE, 12-30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Sunday, Punarvasu (Drik & SS)

7.     April 17, 332 CE, 10-30 PM: Nandana, Vaishakha Shukla Panchami, Sunday, Punarvasu (Drik & SS) Dhanur Lagnam

For all the dates except the last one, the lagna was Abhijit Muhurtha (12-30 PM) at Kataka or Simha. For the year 332 CE, all the birth details matched only after 10-30 PM at night. That gets the lagna at Dhanur as quoted by Atmabodha. But that lagna does not indicate sanyasa ashrama. Only 148 BCE (April 11) had all the birth details found together. The rashi, Bhava and Navamsa charts for that date are produced below (April 11, 148 BCE, 12-30 PM).

The combination of Rashi and Bhava charts simulated to Drik ayanamsa show Pravrajya Yoga. The lagna is Kataka in the Bhava with the Sun joining Mars in the 10^th house. Mars is the Yoga karaka, which is powerful in shadbala strength and joins the Sun indicating taking up of Diksha. The Janmesa (lord of Janma) Mercury is joined by Saturn and not aspected by any other planet. In the Navamsa, the Janmesa and Moon are aspected by Saturn. Moon is in Saturine Drekkana. These features ensure that he had taken Diksha and lived a renounced life. Jupiter is in the 9^th from the Bhava lord, owning the 9^th house which shows that he would write sastras, sciences and commentaries. In all, six planets are powerful – Jupiter and Mars in own houses, Sun in exaltation, Venus and Mercury in Parivartana yoga, Ketu in the 12^th bhava. Saturn which is shown exalted in the horoscopes of olden acharyas is in the right place that ensures sanyasa yoga. So, this horoscope is highly reliable for a great Sanyasi whose contribution to sastras is immense.

The mis-spelling in chronogram

The date 148 BCE is equivalent of Kali 2953 years.

This makes a surprising reading because the chronogram from Prachina Shankara Vijaya quoted by Atmabodha was Kali 2593 – it was just a misplacement of a number which was taken to mean 508 BCE by the Kanchi Mutt.

Reproducing the chronogram in the verse, it says,

“tishya prayāthya anala shēvāthi bāṇa nētra” where

Anala = 3, shēvāthi = 9, bāṇa = 5, nētra = 2.

3952 was reversed to give 2593.

Now it appears, it should have been 2953 by which the chronogram should read as

‘Anala bāṇa  shēvāthi  nētra” = 3592. The reverse will be 2953.

Kali 2953 (tishya is Kali yuga) means 3101 – 2953 = 148

The chronogram, if corrected by just a jumble of a word, gives the exact year of birth of Adi Shankara which fulfils all the date features.

By using the chronogram with a single number misplaced, the year 508 BCE was got.

This seems to be a transcription error when people in the old misplaced a single letter of the chronogram when they copied down. This completely changed the date that did not match with the original date.

Scholars working on original manuscripts can look for this jumble in the olden manuscripts and correct it to the satisfaction of all.

Thus, the date is available. It was in the pre-common era.

Earlier It was proved that this date tallied with Karikāl Chola’s time who built the city of Kanchi on the advice of Adi Shankara.

Adi Shankara’s life events.

The horoscope shows that Adi Shankara was born in Jupiter Maha dasa- Moon Bhukthi.

He lost his father in his 8^th year. That was in Saturn Dasa.

He became a Sanyasin in his 12^th year. That was in Saturn Dasa – Ketu Bhukthi.

A turning pint in his life was meeting of Kumarila Bhatta in his 16^th year. He was running Saturn Dasa- Sun Bhukthi at that time.

There was no turning back in his life after that as he was completely immersed in writing commentaries and regulating Dharma. His end came in Mercury Dasa – when he was shining in knowledge and Mukthi.

The setting up of the Matha-s

The setting up of the Matha-s follow quick succession in his agenda.

1.     Dwaraka Pitha – Sadharana varusham, Magha Shukla Saptami: January 14, 129 BCE, Saturday, Bharani

2.     Jyothish Mutt – Rakshasa Varusham, Paush Shukla Purnima: November 29, 125 BCE, Monday, Arudra.

3.     Govardhan Mutt – Nala Varusham, Vaishakha Shukla Dasami: March 21, 124 BCE, Tuesday, Magha.

4.     Sringeri Mutt – Pingala Varusham, Paush Shukla Purnima: December 7, 123 BCE, Friday, Punarvasu

5.     Kanchi Mutt – Siddharthi Varusham, Vaishakha Shukla Purnima: April 22, 121 BCE, Tuesday, Vishakha

Shankara’s date of ascending to heaven is also given in Panchanga features. It was Rakthaskhi year, Vrishabha Masa, Shukla Ekadasi. This tallies with March 23, 116 BCE, Sunday Purvaphalguni.

This date very much matches with that of Karikāl Chola who built the Grand Anicut in the year 111 BCE. Adi Shankara did not live to see the Kallanai built. But he got what he wanted – building the Ekāmbareswarar temple and the Varadarāja temple besides the Kamakshi temple.

With only 5 years left between his setting up of the Kanchi Mutt and his Swargarohanam, it is highly unlikely he made a walkathon to North India to leave his mortal coils in Kedarnath. Kanchi being a Moksha sthala, it is highly likely he spent his final days in Kanchi, taking great satisfaction in having established Kamakshi Amman and praising her as Dravida Shishu – as a resident of the Dravida region of Kanchi.  

Having completed the date related issues, let me now focus on he issues raised by scholars on his contemporaries.

Purnavarman in Adi Shankara’s writings.

In his article, ‘The date of Shankaracharya’ published in the India Antiquary, 1884, volume no: 13, Mr. K.T. Telang raised certain names used by Adi Shankara in his commentaries. (p. 95, https://archive.org/details/indianantiquary1884vol.13_218_H/page/96/mode/1up ). Since then, they are being discussed by scholars with varied results.

In his Bhashya to Vedanta Sutra, II-1-17, Adi Shankara refers to a king by name Purnavarman, which gives the impression that he was living during his time or around his time. Suppose we find out the identity of this king, we can establish Adi Shankara’s date – this was the opinion of the scholars who quoted this passage. The passage runs as follows:

“If somebody should use, for instance, a phrase such as the following one, 'The son of a barren woman was king previously to the coronation of Pûrnavarman,' the declaration of a limit in time implied in that phrase does not in reality determine that the son of the barren woman, i.e. a mere non-entity, either was or is or will be king. If the son of a barren woman could become an existing thing subsequently to the activity of some causal agent, in that case it would be possible also that the non-existing effect should be something existing, subsequently to the activity of some causal agent.” (https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe34/sbe34157.htm )

The passage talks about whether we can establish the existence of an entity by a comparison such as – the son of a barren woman was the king before the coronation of Purvavarman.

Certainly, a barren woman cannot give birth to a son. But by saying that the son of a barren woman was the king before Purnavarman was crowned as the king, it indicates the impossibility of such a person and not relate his nonexistence to the existence of a king who was crowned after him. In this passage, the king Purnavarman appears like a real character. Adi Shankara was referring to a real king by name Purnavarman and makes a comparison with an impossible entity of one born to a barren woman. So, who was this Purnavarman? This question was haunting the scholars. Either he must have been a contemporary of Adi Shankara or must have lived and died very closely to Shankara’s time.

Mr. Telang identifies two Purnavarman-s – one who lived in Java in the 5^th century and one who ruled from Magadha and mentioned by Hieun Tsang.

Purnavarman of Magadha looks quite agreeable but his identity is variously disputed by Telang and almost all the scholars who tried to identify him. It is important to note that Telang found out from the writings of Hieun Tsang that Purnavarman was the last of the Maurya kings. Though Hieun Tsang mentioned about him, the scholars make an unnecessary fuss that he did not attempt to meet him, thinking that Purnavarman lived in the 7^th century when Adi Shankara also lived!

I tried to locate the work of Hieun Tsnag to know what exactly he had written but couldn’t get the original write-up. All that I could get was the secondary writings which invariably said that Hieun Tsang did say that Purnavarman was the last of the Maurya kings of which Ashoka was an important king.

The problem in identifying Purnavarman arises from another information that the celebrated Bodhi tree was destroyed by Shashanka and it was Purnavarman who successfully restored it. The identity of Shashanka is another issue which scholars tend to link with Harshavardhana. This brings the date of Adi Shankara much later and runs against the date we found out.

So, I decided to go with the original and initial information on Purnavarman as the last king of the Maurya-s. One will be surprised to know that most information on Maurya-s and others are drawn from Vishnu Purana and Jain or Buddhist chronicles and not supported by archaeology.

Only nine emperors have ruled from the Maurya dynasty of Ashoka. The last and the nineth emperor was not named as Purnavarman but as Brihadratha. The main kings were as follows:

Ashoka – 304- 232 BCE

Dasharatha Maurya (grandson)

Samprati

Shalishuka

Devavarman

Shatadhanvan (8th emperor of Maurya)

Brihadratha (9th emperor) 187- 185 BCE.

Brihadratha was overthrown by Pushyamitra Shunga who founded the Shunga dynasty.

Upto Brihadratha, Buddhism was supported by the kings and Hinduism was not favoured. Only with the ascent of Pushyamitra Shunga, Sanatana Dharma found a revival. It was in his period, Patanjali wrote the Mahabhashya. Vedic homas were done, Vedic literature got back its pre-eminence.

The date of Brihadratha appears just before Adi Shankara’s year of birth at 148 BCE. Someone of his Maurya predecessors had disregarded Buddhism. There is no name Shashanka appearing in the lineage given in Vishnu Purana but there was one Shalishuka given in Yuga Purana as a Mauryan king who was described in disparaging terms. Perhaps he attempted to cut off the Bodhi tree but was stopped. Brihadratha continued to be a Buddhist and worked against Sanatana Dharma. It seems there was resistance to the royal patronage of Buddhism which is known from the fact that Pushyamitra, an army chief of the Maurya-s, while conducting a parade in front of the Mauryan king Brihadratha, crushed him in the pretext of showing strength.

Once Brihadratha was killed by Pushyamitra, there was no opposition which by itself shows that people disliked the king and his Buddhist leanings. Once on the throne, Pushyamitra established the revival of Sanatana Dharma.

In this background, Adi Shankara comparing a non-existent king born to a barren woman with Purnavarman, appears to convey the thought flow of Adi Shankara himself. Purnavarman was as good as the son of a barren woman, in being an opponent of Vedic religion.

Scholars identify another Purnavarman, but he belonged to the Gupta dynasty. Since Hieun Tsnag clearly stated that he was the last emperor of the Maurya dynasty of Ashoka, and the date matches with Adi Shankara’s date, there is no need to look for Purnavarman from other periods.

In the same trip to Bharat, Hieun Tsang also visited Kanchi. If Adi Shankara was living at that period or close to that period, he would have mentioned about him because of Adi Shankara’s penchant for defeating Buddhism wherever he went. Such debates were not active during the 7^th century when Hieun Tsang visited Bharat.

Purnavarman and Rajavarman.

Adi Shankara once again makes a mention about Purnavarman in his commentary to Chandogya Upanishad, 2-23-1.

Here he says, “service under Purnavarman brings only food and clothing, while that under Rajavarman brings rewards equal to kingship”.

The reference establishes the reality of a king by name Purnavarman but shows that he was not well respected by Adi Shankara. Rajavarman could not have belonged to the same country, namely Magadha, but if so, Shankara could not have meant Pushyamitra. Earlier we found Rājasena as the king of Kanchi in Adi Shankara’s time who was very much dedicated to Shankara. Perhaps Rajavarman was a reference to Rājasena of the Chola dynasty who did everything for him, including the establishment of Sarvajna Peetha.

Devadatta and Yajnadatta

Adi Shankara also raises the names such as Devadatta and Yajnadatta in his commentary to Vedanta Sutras to say that one of them lived in Srughna and another in Pataliputra. In II-1-18 of the Brahma sutra he says that Devadatta cannot be present in Srughna and Pataliputra on the same day due to the long distance between them. He often uses the name Devadatta – a name which is found in Ramanuja’s commentary to Brahma Sutras too.

It is said in Ramanuja’s commentary that Devadatta is a common name among men used in grammatical and other examples to indicate ‘anyone’ or a ‘certain person’. For example, it is common to say, ‘that is that Devadatta’ ‘Devadatta has cut off all that is above’ ‘tell Devadatta that his father is well’ ‘Devadatta is brown, youthful’ and so on. Therefore, not much meaning needs to be attached to the identity of Devadatta and Yajnadatta in Adi Shankara’s writings. This is not the same as Purnavarman or Rajavarman who seemed to be true historical characters.

Srughna and Pataliputra.

The name Srughna is used by Adi Shankara to denote a place. In the same context he has said that a person cannot be in Srughna and Pataliputra as well. Thus, Srughna is understood to be the name of a place but scholars are at a loss to identify the place.

Srughna is likely to be the original name of the Shunga kings. The dynasty’s name as Shunga or the kings name as ‘Shunga’ is used by us but not found in any source. Vishnu Purana uses the name Shunga. The Bharhut stupa is said to have been made “at the time of the Suga kings” (Suganam raje), but it is not known who these “Suga kings” were. From other contemporary inscriptions such as Heliodorus pillar inscription and the Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana we hear that Pushyamitra was denoted by them and that he was the “Shunga”.

After overthrowing the Maurya empire, Pushyamitra Shunga expanded his empire in the northwest as far as Sagala (Sialkot). He sent army to destroy the Buddhist monasteries and rewarded for brining the head of the Buddhist monks. A place by name Srughna was located in this region of Sagala in the northwest. Srughna is often mentioned in Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, Patanjali’s Mahabhashya, the Divyavadana, the Mahabharata, the Mahamayuri, the Brihatsamhita of Varahamihira, etc.

Srughna, also spelt Shrughna in Sanskrit is also known as Sughna, Sughana or Sugh. There is an old archaeological mound in the village of Sugh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugh_Ancient_Mound) Excavations done in 1965 showed artifacts from 600 BCE to 300 CE. A broken figurine of a headless child with writing board in lap with Shunga (187 BCE to 78 BCE) period alphabets is an important finding from this place, confirming the connection with Pushyamitra Shunga.

 Another important find is the image of an elephant.

https://haryanatourism.gov.in/Destination/ancient-site-of-sugh

Interestingly, the Shunga-s also had elephant in their coins and emblems.

Bronze coin of the Shunga period, Eastern India. 2nd–1st century BCE.

Elephant in Shunga coin

                              Fragment of gold ornament, 185-72 BCE showing an elephant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunga_Empire#/media/File:India,_periodo_sunga,_pendente_a_elefante_inj_oro,_185-72_ac_ca.jpg

A surprising element is that the Bhoja-s, the relatives of Krishna who fled to the west for fear of Jarasandha had Elephant in their banner (Mahabharata: 7-47-8: mārtikāvatakaṃ bhojaṃ tataḥ kuñjaraketanam).

Eighteen groups of Bhoja-s fled to the west, said Krishna to Yudhisthira when he announced him of his decision to move to Dwaraka. Of them the Bhoja-s who went to Matrikavara had elephant as their emblem. In course of time, the descendants of these Bhoja-s must have settled down in Srughna and established their rule. Pushyamitra must have been a descendant of that dynasty. Even his name Pushyamitra could not have been his original name because it was meant to be the mitra (friend) of Pushya (Kali Yuga). He, with strong leanings on Vedic culture, must have been greatly disturbed by the rise of Buddhism in Magadha and waited for a time to remove the Buddhist friendly regime from Magadha. When he succeeded in this endeavour, he was greatly welcomed by one and all. It was only with the arrival of the Shunga dynasty, a Sanatan Renaissance became possible. Pushyamitra was credited with having conducted Ashvamedha yajna.

Adi Shankara lived during that time, perhaps during his successor’s time. The removal of Purnavarman must have been welcomed by one and all that Adi Shankara felt it apt to quote him at places where he wanted to indicate a drop in standards. After Pushyamitra Shunga, Agnimitra ruled between 149 to 141 BCE.

During Adi Shankara’s northern sojourn, Vasujyeshtha, the third emperor of the Shunga dynasty must have been ruling (141 – 131 BCE). The Shunga kings were not in power for a long time. This perhaps made Adi Shankara to choose the much stabler Chola country at Kanchi to spend his final days.

Nepal visit.

Sometime during his visit to establish Jyothish Mutt, he must have visited Nepal. According to Nepalese Vamsavali, the 18th king of Nepal’s Surya Vamsa dynasty was Vrishadeva Varman. He built viharas and erected the images of lokeswara. His brother Bālārchana was also a Buddhist. Adi Shankara visited Nepal in his period and destroyed Buddhism.

During the time of the 31st king Vishvadeva Varman, Vikramaditya came to Nepal and established his Shaka (57 BCE). So, Adi Shankara lived long before 57 BCE.

The date of Adi Shankaracharya

The year of birth of Adi Shankaracharya is clearly made out from the astrological software that can produce all the birth features together for the year 148 BCE. It is reproduced once again (Drik ayanamsa).

His contemporary was Karikāl Chola, also known as Rājasena. In the north, Shunga dynasty was ruling from Pataliputra at that time.

Adi Shankara seemed to have spent considerable time in Kanchi, as seen from his images in various temples. In the Varadaraja temple itself, the image of Ekadandi, Advaita, smarta sanyasin is seen which scholars think is that of Adi Shankara. Similar images are found in Vaikuntha Perumal temple and a temple at Sevili medu. The details of these images can be read in the book ‘Kamakottam and Nayanmars’ authored by VA Devasenapati ( https://archive.org/details/kamakottam-and-nayanmars/page/27/mode/1up ).

Adi Shankara lived at a time when the Vedic religion was not classified as Shaivite or Vaishnavite and so on. It was he who classified for some orderliness but that started causing rigid divisions among the Hindus. Reading through several works on Adi Shankara and works of Adi Shankara for the sake of this article, it gave me a better understanding of our Dharma and the futility of sectarian divisions. He appeared at a time when Renaissance of the Vedic religion was the need of the hour in the North which was under the influence of Buddhism. The South was mostly Vedic and must have given a peaceful time for Adi Shankara to focus on the Almighty.

Before concluding, let me express my sincere thanks to Sri Bharat Subramanyam who believed that I would be able to find out the date of Adi Shankara convincingly. He was led to believe so after seeing my book on Ramanuja. For long I had many self-doubts on whether I would be able to do as he believes. The foremost reason was I knew nothing about Adi Shankara – I feel ashamed to say this. Moreover, my focus was on writing the date of Ramayana, but somehow I could not progress in that venture.

It was then I started wondering whether I have to pay back some Rishi runa by way of finding out the date of Adi Shankara. Somehow, I have worked for the cause of Madhvas by dating the Janamejaya inscription in possession of the Madhva Matha where Madhvacharya took up his deeksha. The Mutt is trying its best to get this inscription approved by the Government of India for which they are using my book on the Mahabharata.

I have done my bit for the Ramanuja sampradaya too by establishing the dates in his life and the identity of the Chola king who persecuted him.

Only the Shankara Sampradaya is pending, I thought. Perhaps I have something to do to make Adi Shankara’s name shine more. Then I started reading the material they sent and several other books as part of research, as and when I started getting doubts and questions. Within two weeks, I could get the date intact for 148 BCE. Then I started reading all the peripheral issues and write-up-s by other scholars to ensure that I am going in the right track. Bhagavadapadal guided me throughout and enabled me to finish this.

Now I seek Adi Shankara’s blessings to begin and finish Ramayana dating too without hassles and as quick as possible.

Acharya Devo Bhava.

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