Introduction : V The Mandakyopanişad etc. xxix " " 8-II >1 " 12 " " " regard the Karikas as part of the Mandukya and distribute the twenty-nine Karikās as follows, with the introductory expression अत्रैते श्लोका भवन्ति- (1) Mandukya 1-6 followed by Karikas I-9 (2) 10-18 (3) 19-23 (4) 24-29 K-bhāşya seems to regard the Mäşdükyopanisad and the four Prakaranas as one work (ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्व तस्योपयाख्यानम् । वेदान्तार्थ- सारसंग्रह भूतमिदं प्रकरणचतुष्टयमोमित्येतदक्षरमित्यारभ्यने । ). According to Madhvācārya ( 13th century) and his followers, both the Mantras and the Karikas were revealed by Nārāyaṇa to Varuna in the form of a frog ( the Kārikās had been revealed earlier to Brahmadeva ), Madhva quotes passages in this connection from the Padma and Garuda Puraņas and also the Harivamša, but these are not found in any of the editions of those works available so far; Kūranārāyana, a follower of the Rāmānuja school, says that the Kārikās corroborate the sense of the Mantras which, being स्वप्रमाण, need no corroboration, This raises the questions: (1) Do the Karikās form part of the Māņdükya, and (2) if not, what is the purpose of the Karikás and how do they come to be associated with the Māndūkyopanişad ? The answer to the first question can only be an emphatic No, for the following convincing reasons: — (1) In several Mss. of the Măndukyopanişad, only the Mantras (the prose portion ) are given and there is no indication in the Mss, that the Karikās ever formed part of the Māndükya, as is clear from the Nirnayasagar edition of the Upanişads. (2) It is only the commentators commenting upon the Upanişad and the Karikās together, who seem to regard the two as forming one complete whole. (3) The Upanişads being Śruti are supposed to be apauruseya (not composed by any human agency ) and it would be going
