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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
MAYURA DEFEATED IN PHILOSOPHICAL CONTROVERSY
But Mayura was not always successful in his literary en-
deavors. The Vedāntists and the Jains have preserved records-
partly fictitious, but containing some grains of truth-of his
defeats at the hands of their champions. The former of these
tales that of the Vedāntists-is given in the Samkṣepaśamkara-
jaya¹ of Madhava,' who flourished 1300-1350 A.D. The story
runs that the gods, seeing mankind given over to Buddhism,
sought the aid of Siva. That deity, assuming the form of
Samkara, the celebrated Brāhmanical reformer and the real
founder of the Vedānta system of philosophy, descended to earth.
In the course of a grand tour of India he met in philosophical
disputation many noted opponents, including representatives of
the Jains and other sects. All were confuted, and many were
converted to the true religion (Brāhmanism) by the invincible
guru. Among those who yielded to his prowess in argument are
enumerated Bāṇa and Mayūra. The portion of the text that
treats of their downfall is as follows:-
sa kathabhir avamtisu prasiddhān
vibudhan banamayuradaṇḍimukhyan
śithilikṛtadurmatābhimanān
nijabhāşyaśravaṇotsukāmś cakāras
'He (Samkara), by his talks, made the celebrated pandits in Avanti,
chief of whom were Bāṇa and Mayüra and Dandin, desirous of listening
to his own Bhdşyas ("commentaries "), after he had overcome their
envious self-conceit.'
1 This work is a copy, with some changes, of the Samkaravijaya of
Anantānandagiri; cf. Aufrecht, Catalogus Codicum Sanscriticorum Biblio-
thecae Bodleianae, p. 260, a, line 2 seq., and p. 247, no. 624, Oxford, 1864;
also, K. B. Pathak, The Date of Samkaracharya, in IA, vol. 11 (1882),
p. 175. A summary, with abstracts, of this work of Madhava is given by
Aufrecht, op. cit., p. 252-260, no. 626.
This Madhava was the brother of Sāyaṇa, who wrote the well-known
commentary on the Rig Veda, cf. Aufrecht, as cited in note preceding,
p. 519, c. He, like his brother, flourished in the 14th century; cf. Duff,
Chronology, p. 223.
8 I have used the text as given on p. 258, b, of Aufrecht's abstract; cf.
above, note 1.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
MAYURA DEFEATED IN PHILOSOPHICAL CONTROVERSY
But Mayura was not always successful in his literary en-
deavors. The Vedāntists and the Jains have preserved records-
partly fictitious, but containing some grains of truth-of his
defeats at the hands of their champions. The former of these
tales that of the Vedāntists-is given in the Samkṣepaśamkara-
jaya¹ of Madhava,' who flourished 1300-1350 A.D. The story
runs that the gods, seeing mankind given over to Buddhism,
sought the aid of Siva. That deity, assuming the form of
Samkara, the celebrated Brāhmanical reformer and the real
founder of the Vedānta system of philosophy, descended to earth.
In the course of a grand tour of India he met in philosophical
disputation many noted opponents, including representatives of
the Jains and other sects. All were confuted, and many were
converted to the true religion (Brāhmanism) by the invincible
guru. Among those who yielded to his prowess in argument are
enumerated Bāṇa and Mayūra. The portion of the text that
treats of their downfall is as follows:-
sa kathabhir avamtisu prasiddhān
vibudhan banamayuradaṇḍimukhyan
śithilikṛtadurmatābhimanān
nijabhāşyaśravaṇotsukāmś cakāras
'He (Samkara), by his talks, made the celebrated pandits in Avanti,
chief of whom were Bāṇa and Mayüra and Dandin, desirous of listening
to his own Bhdşyas ("commentaries "), after he had overcome their
envious self-conceit.'
1 This work is a copy, with some changes, of the Samkaravijaya of
Anantānandagiri; cf. Aufrecht, Catalogus Codicum Sanscriticorum Biblio-
thecae Bodleianae, p. 260, a, line 2 seq., and p. 247, no. 624, Oxford, 1864;
also, K. B. Pathak, The Date of Samkaracharya, in IA, vol. 11 (1882),
p. 175. A summary, with abstracts, of this work of Madhava is given by
Aufrecht, op. cit., p. 252-260, no. 626.
This Madhava was the brother of Sāyaṇa, who wrote the well-known
commentary on the Rig Veda, cf. Aufrecht, as cited in note preceding,
p. 519, c. He, like his brother, flourished in the 14th century; cf. Duff,
Chronology, p. 223.
8 I have used the text as given on p. 258, b, of Aufrecht's abstract; cf.
above, note 1.