It is highly unlikely that Adi Shankara called himself a Dravida shishu in front of Mandana Mishra as Swamy claims (I tried to find a reference in the Shankara Digvijayam, but in vain). The next claim, that Shankara explained to him the etymology of Dravida, is even more far-fetched. However, Shankara does call himself a Dravidashishu in the Soundarya Lahari, verse 75 (3rd word on line 3): tava stanyam manye dharanidhara kanye hrdayatah payah paravarah parivahati sarasvatam iva dayavatya dattam dravidasisur asvadya tava yat kavinam praudhanam ajani kamaniyah kavayita O daughter of the Mountain King! I fancy that Your breast milk is the milk-ocean emerging as poetic inspiration from Your heart. For, it was by drinking it, so graciously given by You, that the Dravida child became a noted poet of Siva among great composers! Clearly, in this verse, Shankara is offering special praise to his deity because, although he hails from the Tamil country (to which Sanskrit is not native), he is able to become a noted poet of Siva and compose verse in Sanskrit. Do listen to this beautiful musical rendering (Ive grabbed the URL so that it starts exactly at the above verse). https://youtube/watch?v=N99u0l9NJw8#t=2938
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:29:28 +0000
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