described as Acarya Mandanamisra, rtman Mandanamisra, Mahamahopadhyaya Mandanamisra, Arya Mandana or Mandana. In none of these works, Mandanamisra is mentioned as a disciple of Kumarilabhatta otherwise known as Bhattapada, the renowned Vartikakara of Karma-mimasa, or as a disciple of Sri Bhagavatpada Sankara, the renowned Acarya of the Advaita School of Vedanta, or as identical with Suresvaracarya, the renowned Vartikakara of Sankara's Bhasya on the Taittiriya and Brhadaranyaka Updisads, who is referred to in some works under the name of Visvarupacarya" and who was one of the four, famous, direct, Sannyasin-disciples of Sankara. There is, however, an old and generally accepted tradition that Mandana was one of the eminent philosophical writers, who received instruction from Kumarilabhatta, such as Prabhakara and Bhattomveka. There is also a comparatively recent tradition, which supports the general belief that Mandanamisra was one of the disciples of Kumarilabhatta and equates him with Suresvaracarya. Whether Mandanamisra, the author of the Brahmasiddhi, is identical with Suresvaracarya the author of the Naiskarmyasiddhi and the Vartikas on the Brhadaranyakabhasya and the Taittiriyakabhasya is the first question to be considered here.
This question relating to the Mandana-Suresvara equation is of as great importance in the evolution of the Advaita system, as in the history of Advaita literature. In my youth, when I was studying the recognised classics of Advaita literature under my Acarya-the late Sri Brahmendra Sarasvati, according to the traditional method, as also in the earlier years of my Professorial career, I took the Mandana-Sursvara equation for granted, as several other scholars did then, and do even to-day. My belief in this equation received its first shock, when I was studying Mandanamisra's Brahmasiddhi in manuscript in the years 1921-22, with a view to bringing out a critical edition of the work. In the year 1923, to the April issue of the Royal Asiatic society Journal of Great Britain and Ireland, my esteemed friend and colleague-Professor M. Hiriyanna of Mysore, contributed a short article on Suresvara and Mandanamisra, in which he drew attention to three noteworthy points of doctrinal divergence between Mandana and Suresvara, which he gathered from certain advaita works like the Samksepasaariraka, the Leghucandrika and the Brhadararnyakavartika; and these three doctrinal distinctions have reference to Mandanamisra's views regarding the locus of
A ! See Viv, Pra. San V.S.S., p. 92 ; Brhad. Var. Part II, P. 64०were r०3 quoted under the name of tba25a Also see Parbara a ०iya B.S.P.S., Vol. I, Part I, P. 57; Brhad. Var, Part I, verse 97 quoted under the name of playa
J.RA.S. 498, April; and 1924 January
