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an antiquity of 1,600 years is attributed to Sankara by the Sringeri Matham. We have already referred to the account of the Sringeri Matham, and it is precisely similar to the account given by the Kudali Brahmins. We have ascertained that it in so from the agent of the Sringeri Matham at Madras, who has published only a few days ago the list of teachers preserved at the said Matham with the dates assigned to them. And further we are unable to see which "common tradition" make Sankara "about 1,200 years old." As far as our knowledge goes there is no such common tradition in India. The majofity of people in Southern India have, up to this time, been relying on the Sringeri account, and in Northern India there seems to be no common tradition. We have but a mass of contradictory accounts.
It is indeed surprising that an Orientalist of Mr. Wilson's pretensions should confound the poet named Sankara and mentioned in Bhoja Prabandha with the great Adwaitee Teacher. No Hindu would ever commit such a ridiculous mistake. We are astonished to find some of these European Orientalists quoting now and then some of the statements contained in such books as Bhoja Prabandha, Kathá Sarit Sagara, Raja-tarangini and Panchatantra as if they were historical works. In some other part of his preface Mr. Wilson himself says that this Bhoja Prabandha is altogether untrustworthy, as some of the statements contained therein did not harmonize with his theory about Amarasimha's date; but now he misquotes its statements for the purpose of supporting his conclusion regarding Saukara's date. Surely, consistency is not one of the prominent characteristics of the writings of the majority of European Orientalists. The person mentioned in Bhoja Prabandha is always spoken of under the name of Sankara Kavi, and he is nowhere called Shankara-charya, and the Adwaitee Teacher is never mentioned in any Hindu work under the appellation of Sankara Kavi.
It is necessary for us to say anything about the Madhwa traditions or the opinion of the Vaishnava Brahmins of
