Interesting Incidents
On his mission to spread Advaita Vedanta, Sankara travelled to Kashi, where a young man named Sanandana from Choladesha (present day Trichy-Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, South India) became his first disciple. In Kashi, Sankara was on his way to the Vishvanatha Temple, when he came upon a chandala (untouchable) with four dogs. When asked to move aside by Sankara’s disciples, the untouchable replied, “Do you wish that I move my everlasting Atman (the Self), or this body made of food?” Understanding that the untouchable was none other than Lord Shiva, and his dogs the four Vedas, Sankara prostrated himself before him, composing extempore, five verses known as Manisha Panchakam.
On reaching Badari in the Himalayas, he wrote the famous bhashyas (commentaries) on the prasthana-traya (Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahmasutra) and prakarana-granthas (introductory texts on Vedanta). He later taught these commentaries to his disciples. Some, like Sanandana, were quick to grasp the essence; Sankara once summoned Sanandana from one bank of the river Ganga, while he was on the opposite bank. Sanandana crossed the river by walking on the lotuses that emerged wherever he placed his foot. Sankara blessed him with the name ‘Padmapada’ (lotus-footed one).
Meeting with Mandana Mishra
One of the most famous debates of Sankara was with the ritualist Mandana Mishra. Mandana Mishra’s Guru was the famous Mimamsa philosopher, Kumarila Bhatta. Sankara sought a debate with Kumarila Bhatta but he directed Sankara to meet his student Mandana Mishra and debate with him instead.
During this debate, the wife of Mandana Mishra, the learned and wise Ubhaya-bharati, was the referee. After debating for over 15 days, Mandana Mishra accepted defeat. Legend has it that Ubhaya-bharati then challenged Sankara to have a debate with her in order to ‘complete’ the victory. This debate was to be on the subject of kama-sastra (science of love). But Sankara, being a renunciate from his childhood, had no knowledge of this subject; thus, after requesting for some time before entering into this fresh debate, he entered the body of a dead king by his yogic powers and acquired the knowledge of kama-sastra. Later, however, Ubhaya-bharati declined to debate with him and allowed her husband Mandana Mishra to accept sannyasa with the monastic name ‘Sureshvaracharya’ as per the agreed rules of the debate.