Ma@n@dana
and converted him into an ascetic follower of his own. He then
travelled in various places, and defeating his opponents everywhere
he established his Vedanta philosophy, which from that time forth
acquired a dominant influence in moulding the religious life of
India.

S'a@nkara carried on the work of his teacher Gaudapada and
by writing commentaries on the ten Upani@sads and the _Brahma-sutras_
tried to prove, that the absolutist creed was the one which
was intended to be preached in the Upani@sads and the _Brahma-sutras_
[Footnote: 1]. Throughout his commentary on the _Brahma-sutras_,
there is ample evidence that he was contending against some
other rival interpretations of a dualistic tendency which held
that the Upani@sads partly favoured the Sa@mkhya cosmology

____________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: The main works of S'a@nkara are his commentaries (bha@sya) on
the ten Upani@sads (Is'a, Kena, Katha, Pras'na, Mu@ndaka, Ma@n@dukya,
Aitareya, Taittiriya, B@rhadara@nyaka, and Chandogya), and on the
_Brahma-sutra_.]

433

of the existence of prak@rti. That these were actual textual
interpretations of the _Brahma-sutras_ is proved by the fact that
S'a@nkara in some places tries to show that these textual constructions
were faulty [Footnote ref 1]. In one place he says that others (referring
according to Vacaspati to the Mima@msa) and some of
us (referring probably to those who interpreted the sutras and
the Upani@sads from the Vedanta point of view) think that the
soul is permanent. It is to refute all those who were opposed
to the right doctrine of perceiving everything as the unity
of the self (_atmaikatva_) that this S'ariraka commentary of
mine is being attempted [Footnote ref 2]. Ramanuja, in the introductory
portion of his bha@sya on the _Brahma-sutra,_ says that the views of
Bodhayana who wrote an elaborate commentary on the _Brahma-sutra_
were summarized by previous teachers, and that he was
following this Bodhayana bha@sya in writing his commentary. In
the _Vedarthasa@mgraha_ of Ramanuja mention is made of Bodhayana,
Tanka, Guhadeva, Kapardin, Bharuci as Vedantic authorities,
and Dravi@dacaryya is referred to as the "bha@syakara" commentator.
In Chandogya III. x. 4, where the Upani@sad cosmology
appeared to be different from the _Vi@s@nupurana_ cosmology, S'a@nkara
refers to an explanation offered on the point by one whom
he calls "acaryya" (_atrokta@