INTRODUCTION I Gaudapada: His Date, Life, Works etc. In the traditional salutation formula repeated daily by the followers of Sankarācārya, Gaudapada stands as the grand preceptor (paramaguru ) of Sarkarácārya. गौडपाद comes after शुक, then गोविन्दयोगीन्द्र whose pupil Sankara was; thus - (1) नारायण (2) ब्रह्मदेव, the lotus-born one (3) वसिष्ठ (4) शक्ति (5) पराशर (6) व्यास (7) शुक (8) गौड़पाद the great (9) गोविन्द ( 10 ) शङ्कर (11-14) पद्मपाद, हस्तामलक, त्रोटक, and वार्तिककार (सुरेश्वर), From Närāyaṇa up to Suka, there is the पितृ-पुत्र succession ; from Suka onwards there is the गुरु-शिष्य succession. The tradi- tional date of Suka would be about 3000 B. C., as he was the son of Vyasa who lived at the time of the Mahābhārata war. Even if the latest date for the Mahābhārata war, viz. 1000 B.C. is accepted, and if Gauda pada was a direct pupil of Šuka as tradition asserts, the date of Gauda pāda would be not earlier than 1ooo B. C., and then Salikarācārya who was the pupil of the pupil of Gaudapàda, would have to be taken as having lived sometime between 2900 B. C. and
