(Appeared in Dilip Magazine July – Sep 2024)
Shankarabhyudayam is an epic poem (kavya) narrating the life story of Shankaracarya in eight chapters (sargas). It was penned by Rajacudamani Dikshita, the youngest son of Shrinivasa Ratnakheta Dikshita, who was a prolific author, senior contemporary, and father-in-law of Shrimad Appayya Dikshita. Like his father, Rajachudamani Dikshita too was a prolific writer. At the end of his work on Mimamsa, Tantrashikhamani, the date of composition is given as 1638 CE. We can understand that Shri Rajachudamani Dikshita lived during the earlier half of the 17th Century. Rajachudamani Dikshita was a shishya of Venkateshvara Dikshita (Venkatamakhi), the son of Govinda Dikshita and Mahakavi Nilakantha Dikshita and also pays obeisance to Girvanendra yogi.
Rajachudamani Dikshita, true to his lineage, demonstrated his poetic prowess at a tender age. He mentions that Sarasvati ie poesy was internalised by him even before Gayatri mantra was. In his Kavyadarpana, he lists twenty-three of his works, including Shankarabhyudayam.
Structure of the text:
The available manuscript versions of Shankarabhyudayam without commentary contain eight sargas. The poet does not mention the time period or birth details of Bhagavatpada. He is silent on the establishment of any Shankarite institutions by name. The kavya ends with Shankaracharya’s siddhi in Kanchipuram.
The first sarga describes Bhagavatpada’s incarnation, his renunciation, and literary contributions. Rajacudamani Dikshita, hailing from a tradition of samayāchāra and srividya upasana, naturally integrates these themes into his text. For instance, when talking about the compositions of Bhagavatpada, he highlights Shankaracharya’s contributions to mantra and tantra. He mentions Prapanchasara and Subhagodayapaddhati. Subhagodaya is also mentioned by Rajachudamani’s older brother Ardhanarishvara Dikshita in his Ambastava vyakhya. Shri. S.V. Radhakrishna Sastrigal in his commentary says that these texts must have been studied and practised within their family. He also mentions Saundaryalahari and Acharya’s stotra granthas in the realm of saguna upasana, prakarana granthas and bhashya granthas.
The second sarga starts with the meeting with Bhagavan Veda Vyasa, meeting with Bhattapada and ends with Mandamishrajaya. The third sarga narrates the passing away of Shankara’s mother Aryamba, the composition of Panchapadika of Padmapada, travels to Karnata desha and the discipleship of Totakacharya and Hastamalakacharya. The fourth sarga continues with the digvijaya and travel through Gokarna, Harihara, Mookambika, Parakaya Pravesha and ends with the episode of the Bhairava. The fifth sarga continues the digvijaya of Bhagavatpada through kshetras such as Anantashayana and Madurai. Rajacudamani Dikshita refers to the hoary traditions of Madurai hosting the divine Tamil sangam and as Bhagavatpada proceeds to Madurai to Meenakshi temple, the poet is reminded of the Tamil sangam. He makes mention of the word “sangaphalaka” and Tamil poets composing in Tamil in accordance with the sutras of Tamil grammar of Sage Agastya. There are a few verses in praise of Meenakshi that remind us of Anandasagarastava of Shri Nilakantha Dikshita.
The sixth sarga begins with the vijaya yatra to Rameshvaram. The seventh sarga contains the entry to Cholamandalam and the digvijayam of the cities in that region such as Shrirangam. He ends this section with an interesting shloka referring to the form of Srividyarajagopala with both the insignias of amba and Krishna. Rajacudamani Dikshita takes Shankaracharya to Arunachalam the kshetra for the fire element. His imagination connects his own ancestor Bhavasvami and he adds a verse about Bhagavatpada taking bhikshasvikaram from Bhavasvami. The poet with a touch of pride in his hometown takes him through their ancestral town of Satyamangalam and only from there Shankaracharya arrives at the prthvikshetram of Kanchi.
He dedicates two sargas to Shankaracharya’s arrival in Kanchi, installation of Shrichakra and his attaining Siddhi there. A stotra on Kamakshi each verse beginning with the syllables of the Panchadashakshari, the 15-lettered mantra of Amba, and another stotra on Shyamala the guardian devata are included in this. It can be said that the seventh and eighth sarga capture this important and welldocumented facet of Rajachudamani and his family. His mother was named Kamakshi! There has been no scholar who has disputed or questioned the content, style or structure of Rajachudamani’s authorship of this text in its entirety both stylistically and structurally.
Rajachudamani Dikshita does not mention the establishment of any mathas – but dwells and elaborates on Shankaracharya’s visit to Kanchipuram and his installation of the Shrichakra there and his worship of Kamakshi, ascent of Sarvajnapitham there and his attaining siddhi there. It may be inferred that a Sannyasi when he comes for a period of time to a city, staying there long enough to install a Shrichakra and worship Kamakshi, surely must have established a matha – a place of stay for themselves and their shishyas.
There exists one commentary by a much later writer Ramakrishna Suri who has chosen to write a commentary only on the six sargas, leaving out Shankaracharya’s travel to Kanchi. It is unclear as to the identity of Ramakrishna Suri or his motivations on why he chose to stop with the first six sargas. Ramakrishna Suri salutes the Bharati lineage of sannyasis mentioning names such as “Chidghana Bharati” and “Anandaghanabharati”. The colophon at the end of each chapter says that he is a shishya of Anandaghanabharati.
Shankarabhyudayam and its relationship with Shankara Digvijayam (Sankshepa Shankara Vijayam) of Navakalidasa Madhava Kavi
“Sankshepa Shankara Vijayam,” of Navakalidasa Madhava Kavi, popularly known as Madhaviya Shankara Vijayam is a summary from various sources. Despite being attributed to Vidyaranya by Anandashrama publication in 1890s, manuscript colophons mention Madhava Kavi. PP Subrahmanya Shastri in his article in the Vani Vilas Publication says that there are two shlokas in the manuscripts in the GOML Library that give the name of the teacher of the author of the Sankshepa Shankara Vijaya as ‘Maheshvara’. The two commentaries to this work are from 1798 and 1824, several years after the composition of Shankarabhyudayam. It was in the Anandashrama publication in 1890s that this was printed as the work of Vidyaranya and the manuscript colophons do not mention Vidyaranya. This publication was popular all over India for the simple reason that it was one of the earliest works in Devanagari script and not because of its purported authenticity or authorship.
The connection is noteworthy because Sankshepa Shankara Vijayam (or Madhaviyam) borrows as many as 136 verses from Rajachudamani Dikshita’s work – most of the borrowals are from the first four sargas and five shlokas from the remaining sargas. The Sankshepa Shankara Vijaya also borrows from several other works making it an amalgam of many works. In addition the text contains many strange anachronisms such as Shankara Bhagavatpada’s meeting with Abhinavaguptapada, Udayana, Bhattabhaskara and so on.
Rajacudamani Dikshita’s works are well documented and coming from a prolific writer of Kavya, have a unique style. He does not borrow from any other work and his content and structure are quite unique. Further, in the aspect of Shankaracharya’s final resting place, this text shares a similar ending with Patanjali Charitam of Shri Ramabhadra Dikshita.
It is interesting to note here that both Rajachudamani and Ramabhadra Dikshita were the students of Mahakavi Nilakantha Dikshita. Shri Nilakantha Dikshita spent considerable time in his life, in the Tanjavur region teaching scholars such as Ramabhadra Dikshita, Rajachudamani Dikshita and others. Further, Nilakantha Dikshita and Rajachudamani Dikshita were both devoted to Girvanendra Saraswati, the author of Prapanchasara sangraha. The 59th Acharya of Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Moolamnaya Sarvajna Pitham Shri Bhagavannama Bodhendra Saraswati Swamigal pays tribute to Girvanendra Saraswati as well. The geographical proximity of these authors, their reverence for Girvanendra Saraswati, and their depiction of the siddhi sthalam of Shankaracharya and the interconnected network of relationship of these authors explains the commonality of tradition in their depiction of Shankara Charitam and Shankaracharya’s siddhi at Kanchipuram.