As a child, I read the Amar Chitra Katha story of Adi Shankaracharya. It told me how he was born in a family in Kerala and became a monk against his mother’s wishes. He travelled around India defeating Buddhists, in fierce, intellectual debates. As an adult, I learned that this event probably happened in the early half of the 8th century. But the stories came from much later sources, perhaps 13th and 14th centuries in the Digvijayams. These are hagiographies, composed by monastic orders that lived in and around the Vijayanagara Empire. In time, I realised these stories can be contested.
The Kanchi Math claims that Shankaracharya lived even before the Buddha, 2,500 years ago. This claim is based on their chronicles, which trace their lineage to that period. He was born in the 14th year of King Vikramaditya. They reject the claim that Vikramaditya represents a Chalukyan king who lived in the 7th or 8th Century. They argue that the 8th Century birth of Shankaracharya is Western scholarship trying to locate him at a later age.
The 16th century Buddhist historian Taranath wrote the history of Buddhism. He claims that Buddhist scholar, Dharma Keerthi, defeated Shankaracharya, several times. Finally, Shankaracharya decided to end his life by drowning himself in the Ganga, even though he was requested not to do so. Shankaracharya was reborn, in a family of Vedic scholars. He, once again, lost to Dharma Keerthi and once again, killed himself. This is contrary to the popular Hindu belief that Shankaracharya defeated Buddhist scholars in debate.
Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist, author and communicator whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, religion, mythology, and management.
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