Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: Role of South India in Hinduism.... [Re: Shiwaji] #18239 - 07/02/02 04:00 AM Edit Reply Quote

Actually AdiShankara did live much earlier. According to their own traditions he lived somewhere near 509 BC, which is not at all improbable, being also closer to the corrected Buddha period done by Prof. Mankad (21th century BC) based on the corrected Puranic chronology (the 19th century BC is proposed based on the traditional data). This date also fits in the S�tra period in which time the Tipitaka Suttas were composed. (The Gardabhilas of Avanti had offended the sister of the Jaina monk K�lak�charya. This monk went to the Persian court and advised their king, obviously Kurush the Great, to advance towards Avanti. While only the Panjab is noted for having been occupied, Avanti was also occupied. It seems very imporbable that only the small part of the Panjab would pay at least that much tribute to the Persian king as all the kshatraps of their empire together.) In AdiShankara's time western Indians witnessed the coming of the related Persian (Anava) army on their soil. They pressed the Shaka (Turvasus) to occupy territories upto Avanti. For a few generations the Shakas paid tribute to the Persian, but then became independant under the Chashtana dynasty. (The Chashtanas were Hindus, with names like Rudrad�man, etc.) AdiShankara, coming from the south reinforced the Advaita Ved�ntika philosophy (to which the Buddhistic philosophy also belonged, with slight differences in those days), introducing that to the north due to the success of Shak�ri Vikram�ditya against the Shakas. (It must have been against the pre-Chashtana Shakas who ruled from 552 BC with their kings Ysamotika=Bh�mika and Nahapana). South India gave not only AdiShankara to the rest, but also Bodhidharma to China, who introduced Dhy�na and Kal�ri to the Far East. Other names are PurandaraD�sa, Venkatamakhin in classical music, the Vedic titan S�yan�ch�rya and M�dhav�ch�rya. The Vijayanagara Empire of Bukka and Harihara was one of the last great Hindu empires to rescue some of our most ancient heritage against the Muslim invaders. Many Hindu scholars fled to the south. The splendour of the Chola architecture is unfortunately not given that much attention in the world. It's a world wonder! The Bhakti movement was revived by the Azhvars and I forgot the other group, from the south.