timmmwk mmM Mit$~mm B, No. 9. GAUDAPADA-KARIKA Edited with a complete translation into English, Notes, Introduction and Appendices By Raghunath Damodar Karmarkar Director,, Post-Graduate and Research Department, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute ( Efc-Principal, Sp|§|raj»kurambhau College, Poona ) Published By Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute POONA 1953 Copies can be had direct from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona 4 ( India) Price: rs, 5 per copy, exclusive of postage Printed and published by Dr. R. N. Dandekar, M.A„ Ph.D., at the Bhandarkar Institute Press, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona No. 4. J " " U^f^T STTOimidftr: , 3?g^lTTf W 1 4k4W*lR*l ^_ ^ . gr% ?<£«h ^rar ?v*3 iwwi«4 ^rq^[^?R5T: Dedicated to The Sacred Memory of The Late Mahamahopadhyaya VASUDEVA SHASTRI ABHYANKAR [1862-1942] who did his utmost throughout his life to expound and popularise the Philosophy of §ankaracarya PREFACE Prof. Vidhusekhara Bhattacharya published his edition of Gauda- padakankas ( or Agamasastra ) some years ago. A close perusal of that edition clearly showed that Prof. Bhattacharya had allowed himself to be carried a little too far by his leanings towards Buddhism, and hence some of his interpretations appeared clearly to be biassed and forced. While teaching Gaudapadakanka to the M. A. students, I had occasion to criticise Prof. Bhattacharya's interpretations, and I felt that it would be better to present my views in a book-form, before a larger circle of readers so that a balanced view of Gaudapada's philosophy could be taken. The present edition has been brought forth with such a back-ground. Fortunately as regards the text of the Karikas, there is no difference of opinion. Prof, ^Bhattacharya has collated a large number of Mss, but his text does not materially differ from that published in the Anandasrama series more than fifty years ago. I also looked into two Mss. specially lent by the Prajiiapathasala, Wai. (0 Ms. No. ^f-— ( mwwwfter ) 44 This is not a very old Ms, It contains four Prakaranas, and the colophon at the end of the fourth Prakarana is %fcT jfr^qr^isrcP Sscfr arnrararsfc sq^srar^ ^7??^ ^gi v&vw, I No. ^ — ( Hiffw^^ftwrorft^mr^ ) 9 This also is not a very old Ms. It contains the first Prakarana only, and the commentary of Anandagiii. The colophon reads irrn^jpftaftTOr** srsm srero #^S^ I In the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute Collection, there is a Ms. called ?q^5r3Pq[ which contains only the 3rd and the 2nd Prakarana of the Gaudapadakarikas. None of these Mss. show any marked variations of readings. It may therefore be taken for granted that the text of the Karikas is more or less fixed. 2 Preface I have in effect stated above that the present edition is intended to show how Prof. Bhattacharya's Buddhistic interpretations of the Karikas are not acceptable. I am aware that I might be charged with having taken a partisan view myself. In the Introduction, I have discussed several important topics in this connection, and have tried to show that Gaudapada was a traditional Vedantist and that he took particular care to show now and then that his philosophy differed from that of the Buddhists. I have to thank the authorities of the Bhandarkar O. R. Institute for having undertaken to publish this work in their Government Oriental Series. I must also thank Prof. Dr. Miss Sulochana Nachane, of the M. S. University of Baroda. for helping me in various ways. In the end, I hope this edition would meet the needs of students of Indian philosophy, who wish to understand and appreciate Gaudapada's Ajativada. °°n „q a f' ,« \ R- D - Karmarkar 28 August 1953 ) CONTENTS Introduction Pages I Gaudapada : His Date, Life, Works etc. i-x II The contents of Gaudapada-Karika x-xxh III Was Gaudapada a Buddhist ? xxii-xxvii IV The Title of the whole work and the several Prakaranas thereof xxvii-xaviii V The Maiidukyopanisad and the twenty-nine Karikas in the first Prakarana xxviii-xxxhi VI Are the four Prakararias inter-related ? xxxiii-xd VII The Sources of Gaudapada-Karika xLi-xLvii VIII Gaudapada's contribution to Indian Philosophical Thought xLvii-Lii Text and Translation snm sreR<n*3; \~% fern? snsTO** \-\% <I?fhr sr^orat n-« ^g§ zmvtm «-h* Notes Chapter I 57-70 Chapter II 71-88 Chapter III 88-107 Chapter IV 108-146 Appendix I An Alphabetical Index to the Karikas 147-154 Appendix II Index to Important Words in the Notes iSS-157 [ The usual Abbreviations are used in this edition* The Bhasya on the Karikas, attributed to Saftkaracarya is referred to as K.bhasya or Safikara-bhasya. ] ; INTRODUCTION I Gaudapada : His Date, Life, Works etc. In the traditional salutation formula repeated daily by the followers of Sankaracarya, Gaudapada stands as the grand preceptor paramaguru ) of Sankaracarya, jti^ti^ comes afier %$?:, then ( — srrT^spftWr^ whose pupil Sankara was ; thus ( 1 ) *m*T<rr I ( 2 ) srsf^r, the lotus- born one I (3) *f&r I ( 4 ) 31#cT I ( 5 ) <rwr 1 ( 6 ) ssrT^r i (7) S^ ( 8 ) *ff^T3[ the great ( 9 ) nm*% ( 10 ) 5!f* I ( 11-14 ) q3r<n^ s*ara«ir£, shot, and ^Tm^^IT ( «»** ). From Nariyana up to Suka, theie is the %-pr succession from Suka onwards there is the ?js~%wt succession. The tradi- tional date of Suka would be about 3000 B. C., as he was the son 6f Vyasa who lived at the time of the Mahabharata war. Even if the latest date for the Mahabharata war, viz. 1000 B. C. is accepted, and if Gaudapada was a direct pupil of §uka as tradition asserts, the date of Gaudapada would be not earlier than 1000 B, C, and then Sankaracarya who was the pupil of the pupil of Gaudapada, would have to be taken as having lived sometime between 2900 8* C. and ii Gaudapada-Karika 900 B. C. Tradition 1 again tries to avoid such a conclusion by assign- ing a long life of thousands of years to Suka, as well as to Gauda- pada. A more rational way to explain the position would be to believe that only the chief names, and not all the names, have been preserved by tradition as lying between &uka and Sankaracarya. Luckily some fresh evidence 2 has recently come to light in respect of the relation between Gaudapada and Sankara. A work called ' &rl Vidyarnava ' dealing with the Sakta doctrines by Vidyaranya I that is, ( circa 1 100 A. D. ) says ^rarf^rjftrerw *THWn ^rmKccr: , there are five names of Acaryas between Gaudapada and Sankara. The same work says that Sankaracarya's direct pupils were fourteen of the four pupils and Of these the names q^rraf , §**3T, ^afm^ sTr^^ have become more well-known ( only q^nr^'s name is given in the sfrfrsrrohr )• The account seems plausible enough, but the writer who lived about 1100 A. D. speaks of himself as living in the fourth generation from Sankaracarya, which is not in con- formity with the generally accepted date 788 A. D. for Sankara. Anandagiri * in his commentary on the Gaudapada-Karika- bhasya ( that goes under the name of Sankara ) mentions that Gaudapada practised penance at Badarikasrama, and Narayana revealed to him the Karikas on the Mandukyopanisad. his bhasya on the Sankara in Svetasvataropanisad says ar^rr ^ i s true at $£$%*& *n3W[T3ri*h • k ^ h ere Gaudapada is referred to in the singular, but so is Vyasa himself in the Brahmasutrabhasya. 1 The YogavEsistba describes Suka as the greatest of Vogins who enjoyed the SamSdhi state for more than ten thousand years ! (II. 1-43-44). tb« article * of 2 See A Survey the Sakta School* ( in Marathi ) by Prof, BLB. Bhide, jn Bharata ltihasa Sariisodhaka Mandala Quarterly Vol. XXXIII H01.1&2, 1953, *W I on IV. V Introduction : / Gaudapada ; His Date, Life, Works etc. in The gods, likewise, are often mentioned in the singular, so the rule about the plural being used honorifically is not without its exceptions. Balakrsnananda (circa 17th century ) in his ^nrfoftufffcrpntcr* grnfo?, describes Gaudapada as jff^snrasrs" and as one being in Samadhi right up from the Dvapara yuga. There is no reason to doubt the historicity of Gaudapada, on the strength of the above traditional account which could not have possibly invented him. The Karikas have been quoted by well-known writers, both Vedantists and Buddhists :— Santiraksita and Bhavaviveka * quote some Karikas as coming from some Vedantasastra. As both the above Buddhist writers were concerned with the doctrines and not the name of the author, the non-mention of Gaudapada need not appear surprising. In fact, Sanskrit writers normally quote passages from other works, without specifying the names of the authors, &ankaracarya quotes Karika in his sutrabhasya (II. the sracr^JTPUTT... 1.9 ) } with the : remark sraterT ^r^*hr3TOT%?%*re$ , and Karika III. 15 in the bhasya ( L IV. 14 ), with the remark cW ^ *rc^r*rc^r ^r*cr. ( The plural used in both the cases is obviously intended to show respect and refers to only one Acarya and not to many ), Suresvara in his Naiskarmyasiddhi, 5 quotes two G. Karikas ( I. 11 and 15 ), and one from Upadesasahasri of Sankara, with the f remark q;=r ifti£rfei'& $&?*m«h s*m%r: I As strfti". here refers to Sankara, nil-: must refer to only one individual viz. ifeqr^. Dr. Walleser misunderstands *frt" : and %\^k- to mean ' representa- tives of the Gauda and Dravida tradition \ The commentator ^renm calls the G. Karikas quoted in the ^**n%f%, *n§-<rrafhw5Fr. Vidyaranya in his q^^fr refers to Gaudapada's teaching which is characterised as 3*raT<romcf by his commentator.