2023-02-16 08:25:51 by ambuda-bot
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As taught by the Vedic school of Sri-Vidya, it is the embodi-
ment of the highest yoga and of pure spiritual love and know-
ledge. In a way, it is approaching the Supreme Being through
'the Beautiful' as the title 'Saundaryalahart itself implies.
I. SAUNDARYALAHARI
Most of the commentators on this hymn ascribe it to Sri
Sankarâcârya. But at the time of the author of the commentary
called Dindima, the hymn was ascribed by one tradition to Siva,
by another to Sri-Sankarācārya supposed to have been an
incarnation of Siva, and by a third to, the Goddess Lalitā. An-
other commentator, the author of Sudhavidyotini, fathers it upon
one Pravarasena, a prince of the Dramidas. The account,* how-
ever, given in the commentary as to the composition of the
hymn by the said prince, appears to be rather fantastic. But the
fact that Srî-Sankarâcârya was a reformer in his days of Sakta
cult as of various others, the very important part still played by
the Sakti-worship in all the Advaita-mutts, the identity of the
soul and the Goddess spoken of in verse 22, the reference to the
Vedanta in verse 4, the peculiar style of the hymn and an impar-
tial reference to and an attempt to unify the peculiar doctrines
of the mutually opposed sects of Samaya-marga and Kaula-
märga, and lastly, the unanimous testimony of such writers as
Lakshmidhara and Bhāskararāya-all these incline me to believe
that the hymn is a genuine work of Sri-Sankarācārya.
Lakshmidhara speaks to himself as the author of a work
on civil and religious law called Sarasvativilasa, but in the
manuscript copy of the work in my possession, Prataparudradeva
is said to be the author of the work. The two statements may,
however, be reconciled by supposing that Vidyanatha was the
real author of the work which was given out to the world as that
of his patron as is very often done, and that Vidyanatha was the
name assumed by Lakshmidhara at the time of initiation
into Sri-Vidya as it has always been the custom for an initiate
CC-0. Jangamwadi Math Collection. Digitized by eGangotri
ix
As taught by the Vedic school of Sri-Vidya, it is the embodi-
ment of the highest yoga and of pure spiritual love and know-
ledge. In a way, it is approaching the Supreme Being through
'the Beautiful' as the title 'Saundaryalahart itself implies.
I. SAUNDARYALAHARI
Most of the commentators on this hymn ascribe it to Sri
Sankarâcârya. But at the time of the author of the commentary
called Dindima, the hymn was ascribed by one tradition to Siva,
by another to Sri-Sankarācārya supposed to have been an
incarnation of Siva, and by a third to, the Goddess Lalitā. An-
other commentator, the author of Sudhavidyotini, fathers it upon
one Pravarasena, a prince of the Dramidas. The account,* how-
ever, given in the commentary as to the composition of the
hymn by the said prince, appears to be rather fantastic. But the
fact that Srî-Sankarâcârya was a reformer in his days of Sakta
cult as of various others, the very important part still played by
the Sakti-worship in all the Advaita-mutts, the identity of the
soul and the Goddess spoken of in verse 22, the reference to the
Vedanta in verse 4, the peculiar style of the hymn and an impar-
tial reference to and an attempt to unify the peculiar doctrines
of the mutually opposed sects of Samaya-marga and Kaula-
märga, and lastly, the unanimous testimony of such writers as
Lakshmidhara and Bhāskararāya-all these incline me to believe
that the hymn is a genuine work of Sri-Sankarācārya.
Lakshmidhara speaks to himself as the author of a work
on civil and religious law called Sarasvativilasa, but in the
manuscript copy of the work in my possession, Prataparudradeva
is said to be the author of the work. The two statements may,
however, be reconciled by supposing that Vidyanatha was the
real author of the work which was given out to the world as that
of his patron as is very often done, and that Vidyanatha was the
name assumed by Lakshmidhara at the time of initiation
into Sri-Vidya as it has always been the custom for an initiate
CC-0. Jangamwadi Math Collection. Digitized by eGangotri