Samkara-Mandara-Saurabha: Eine Legende uber das Leben des Philosophen Samkara: Text, Ubersetzung, Einleitung, vol. 153.

• Author: Bolle, Kees W.

Samkara-Mandara-Saurabha is a dissertation accepted by the University of Heidelberg in 1990. The present edition will benefit all students of India who have an interest in the formation of legends and in the particular genius of India to "reformat" difficult teachings in an easily acceptable narrative. It belongs to a type of literature that anyone who has looked at the jataka stories is familiar with, where all the cardinal points in the Buddha's teachings, such as samsara, punarjanma, and nirvana, are vividly illustrated and explained to the uninstructed listener. Here are legends clustered around Sankara, the most famous of Vedanta teachers. The stories, full of fantastic details and miracles, have for centuries fascinated and, indeed, enlightened, people who listen to story-tellers. After the eighth century A.D., in which the great thinker lived, the illustrious place of Sankara in the history of Indian thought and spirituality has led many to combine, recreate, and polish the stories in writing.

The text chosen by Ungemach is quite recent. It was composed in the middle of the nineteenth century by a certain Nilakantha. His hagiographic composition is written in a mixture of poetry and prose (campu style). In twenty-eight pages, Ungemach summarizes the main features and biographical details of the Sankara legends in general, from the sage's divinely inspired origin to his birth and childhood, his study and travels, and the completion of his mission. The second part of the book contains the Sanskrit text of the Sankaramandarasaurabha, the third part of the translation. The work concludes with a bibliography, an index, and a brief English summary. An appendix that will be welcome to scholars appears on the very last pages (pp. 186-87). It...