This page describes Soundarya Lahari as being authored by sage Pushpadanta and Adi Shankara. While there are many who believe this to be incorrect attribution, I am more interested to know if any scholar or acharya from the sampradaya of Sri Adi Shankara has written a proper commentary on this text. If yes, would appreciate being given the exact source material, online or offline.
3 Answers
S.S.S. Shastri and T.R.S Ayyangar have authored a commentary on the Soundarya Lahiri in English. You can download it here.
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@SwiftPushkar well, I didn't narrow down the scope to just pontiffs. Besides, one the authors of the book shown in the answer seems to be from an advaitin and the other a vishishtadvaitin (at least by their names). I will give this a couple more days to see if some more answers are given.– AmbiJan 4, 2019 at 11:19
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2@Ambi Ok , Yes , hope that we will get some more answers after your clarification . :-) Jan 4, 2019 at 11:22
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I don't think any commentator on the Soundarya Lahiri would write from any perspective except Advaita. Because Soundarya Lahiri is purely an Advaitin work.– user9969Jan 4, 2019 at 12:39
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1@SuryaKantaBoseChowdhury I would disagree on that it is an advaitic work. It is a shakta work whose import has been extended extensively to cover for advaitic purposes.– AmbiJan 6, 2019 at 5:26
A total of 36 commentaries is said to have been composed on the Saundaryalaharī, out of which the one composed by Lakṣmīdhara is the most popular one. Here is a link for 9 commentaries, including the one by Lakṣmīdhara. Here is another link to its exposition in English by Svāmī Tapasyānanda of the Rāmakṛṣṇa Maṭha.
Those who say that Saundarya Lahari is an incorrect attribution to Adi Shankaracharya should study it's inner essence before commenting upon it. Saundarya Lahari is such a wonderful work comprising of extreme and complex grammatical tenets that nobody apart from the great Adi Shankaracharya could compose it. However, for the purpose of debunking some baseless accusations about it's authorship by Adi Shankaracharya, we need a corroboration.
A great Tamil Shaiva poet named 'Kaviraja Panditar (998 - 1045 CE)' has penned a commentary on each and every single verse of Saundarya Lahari way back in 11th CE itself which is available here
Even in Prapancha Sara tantra, Padmapadacharya while commenting upon the 11th Chapter of 'Tantra vimarsha' quotes few verses of Saundarya Lahari glorifying the Supreme mother of Universe. So there's nothing erroneous in attributing Saundarya Lahari to Pushpadanta Mahagandharvaraja and Bhagavan Adi Shankara.
