question

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

During the process of archiving Atma Siddhi, I came across two names,

namely

Dhramidacharya and Srivatsanka Mishra. Alavandar mentiones that both

have

written comentaries on Vedanta Sutras that are in accordance with the

his and

Ramanuja's interpretation. Where can I find information about them and

their

works. Please note, Srivatsanka Mishra mentioned here is earlier and

different

from the Srivatsanka of the Shakara follower. Yamuna, infatc, refers to

Dhramidacharya as BhAsyakAra.

 

thanks

 

-Venkatesh Elayavalli

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Venkatesh

 

The works of Dramidacharya and Srivatsanka Mishra the earlier are

no longer extant. Fragments of the former's works have been quoted by

Ramanuja and Sudarsana Suri. Dramida, clearly an ancient Vedantin

from south India, was an Upanishad bhAshyakAra who commented primarily

on the Chhandogya Upanishad. For this reason, in the pre-Ramanuja

period he is known as the 'bhAshyakAra'. (Ramanuja is also known by

this title, and bhAshyakAra now refers to him in our sampradAya).

 

All extant excerpts from Dramidacharya's bhAshya have been compiled in

J.A.B. van Buitenen's critical edition of Ramanuja's "Vedarthasangraha".

 

Srivatsanka Mishra is cited as an authority by Sri Yamunacharya.

Unfortunately, we know nothing else about this author other than

what Yamuna tells us. No fragments from his work remain, as far

as I know.

 

By the way, you write that there is a later Srivatsanka Mishra

who was a follower of Sankara. As far as I know, the only later

Srivatsanka Mishra is the famed Kurattalvan, Ramanuja's right-hand

man for whose temple renovation Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swami is in the

process of raising funds. The first famous "Mishra" who is a follower of

Sankara is the 9th-10th century author Vachaspati Mishra, who wrote

the "bhAmati", one of the classic expositions of Sankara's brahma-sUtra-

bhAshya.

 

Mani