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Articles > Sri Shankara in Cambodia.?
sri shankara in cambodia.?
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Published in "The Indian Historical Quarterly - XVIII", Calcutta, INDIA (1942)
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“Sri Shankara in Cambodia.?” by Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri
Dr. R. C. Majumdar in the Indian Review (February, 1940) and Mr. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri in the Journal of Oriental Research (Vol. XI, pts. 3 – 4) have expressed the view that on the authority of a Kambuja inscription mentioning the installation of the God Bhadreshvara by Siva Soma, we must assign Shankara to about 800 A. D. because Siva Soma, in the 39th verse of the inscription, is said to have learnt the Sastras from Bhagavat Shankara himself (Bhagavat Shankarahvayat). Siva Soma was the grandson of Jayendrashipativarman, the maternal uncle of Jayavarman II of Kambuja and the Guru of Indravarman I (878 – 887 A. D.).
The inference that this Bhagavat Shankara is no other than Adi Shankara seems to be unwarranted. I have shown elsewhere(1) that Shankara lived towards the close of the sixth and in the beginning of the seventh century, as the contemporary of a number of Jaina, Bauddha, Naiyayika, Vaisheshika, Mimamsaka, Vaiyakarna authors and in any case cannot be later than Santirakshita and Bhavabhuti (c. 720 A. D.). We should therefore be very careful before making a sweeping assertion assigning Shankara to a date a century later.
In the history of Kambuja, the eighth century was a period of anarchy, Jayavarman III who had the posthumous name Parameshwara came to the throne in 787 A. D. His Sdog Kak Thom Inscription says that the Parameshwara (Jaya II) came from Java to reign in Indrapura. He and his family purohita Shivakaivalya successively established themselves at Kandavara Homa, Hariharalaya and Amarendrapuri. This Shivakaivalya was ignorant of Shaiva Tantras and therefore learnt the Vinashika, Nayottara, Sammoha and Shiraccheda and the ritual of Jagattaraja (Bhadreshvara – Deva Raja imported from Campa), from a Brahmana Devaraja who had come from India (Janapada).
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Adi Shankaracharya with disciples