gods [Footnote ref l].”  It seems particularly significant that S’a@nkara should credit Gau@dapada and not Badaraya@na with recovering the Upani@sad creed.  Gau@dapada was the teacher of Govinda, the teacher of S’a@nkara; but he was probably living when S’a@nkara was a student, for S’a@nkara says that he was directly influenced by his great wisdom, and also speaks of the learning, self-control and modesty of the other pupils of Gau@dapada [Footnote ref 2].  There is some dispute about the date of S’a@nkara, but accepting the date proposed by Bha@n@darkar, Pa@thak and Deussen, we may consider it to be 788 A.D. [Footnote ref 3], and suppose that in order to be able to teach S’a@nkara, Gau@dapada must have been living till at least 800 A.D.

Gau@dapada thus flourished after all the great Buddhist teachers As’vagho@sa, Nagarjuna, Asa@nga and Vasubandhu; and I believe that there is sufficient evidence in his karikas for thinking that he was possibly himself a Buddhist, and considered that the teachings of the Upani@sads tallied with those of Buddha.  Thus at the beginning of the fourth chapter of his karikas he says that he adores that great man (dvipadam varam) who by knowledge as wide as the sky realized (sambuddha) that all appearances (dharma) were like the vacuous sky (gaganopamam [Footnote ref 4].  He then goes on to say that he adores him who has dictated (des’ita) that the touch of untouch (aspars’ayoga—­probably referring to Nirva@na) was the good that produced happiness to all beings, and that he was neither in disagreement with this doctrine nor found any contradiction in it (avivada@h aviruddhas’ca).  Some disputants hold that coming into being is of existents, whereas others quarrelling with them hold that being (jata) is of non-existents (abhutasya); there are others who quarrel with them and say that neither the existents nor non-existents are liable to being and there is one non-coming-into-being (advayamajatim).  He agrees with those who hold that there is no coming into being [Footnote ref 5].  In IV. 19 of his karika he again says that the Buddhas have shown that there was no coming into being in any way (sarvatha Buddhairajati@h paridipita@h).

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[Footnote 1:  S’a@nkara’s bha@sya on Gau@dapada’s karika, Anandas’rama edition, p. 214.]

[Footnote 2:  Anandas’rama edition of S’a@nkara’s bha@sya on Gau@dapada’s karika, p. 21.]

[Footnote 3:  Telang wishes to put S’a@nkara’s date somewhere in the 8th century, and Ve@nkates’vara would have him in 805 A.D.-897 A.D., as he did not believe that S’a@nkara could have lived only for 32 years. J.R.A.S. 1916.]

[Footnote 4:  Compare Lankavatara, p. 29, Katha@m ca gaganopamam.]

[Footnote 5:  Gau@dapada’s karika, IV. 2, 4.]

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