Introduction : 17' The Title of the whole work etc. xxvii Vedāntic tradition and who evolved his doctrine of non-origination, after having studied the different systems of pliilosophy current in his time, and having found that they could not stand the test of logical reasoning. He was, in short, a Vedāntist, both by tradition and conviction; hence it was possible for Śankarācārya and other Vedāntists to take his philosophy as their firm basis to build their detailed theories upon. IV The Title of the whole work and the several Prakaranas thereof The two hundred and fifteen Kärikäs comprising the four Prakarañas, as a whole are described in the Manuscripts variously as गौडपादीयकारिका, or गौडपादकारिका ( in the plural or the singular) or अगमशास्त्र. Fortunately there is no discrepancy as regards the number of the Karikas. Similarly there are no material variants or different readings worth noting as regards the text itself, Prof. Vidhusekhara Bhattacharya has collated a large number of Mss. but nothing very striking has been revealed in the matter of the text proper. We also looked into several more Manuscripts at the Bhandarkar Insti- tute and two more specially obtained from Wai, but have not found any new readings worth considering. One Ms. No. 171 at the B.O. R. I, which contains the third ( अद्वैताख्य ) and the second (वैतथ्याख्य ) Prakaranas calls the work उपदेशग्रन्थ. The Buddhisr writer शांतिरक्षित who quotes a number of Kärikās, quotes them as from वेदान्तशास्त्र. One commentator on the Pancadaśī seems to call Gaudapada's -work माण्डूक्यवार्तिक' and Gaudapada as वार्तिककार. Prof. Vidhusekhara apparently likes to call the work आगमशास्त्र. There is no particular reason why one title should be regarded as preferable to the other. The simpler title गौडपादकारिका appears to us most likely to be the genuine one. As regards the titles of the four Prakarañas, there is no contro- versy a tour the names of Prakaranas II, III and IV which are respec- tively called वैतथ्यप्रकरण, अद्वैतप्रकरण and अलातशान्तिप्रकरण. According 13 The title माण्डूक्योपनिषद: is also found in some colophons,
