Is Brahma Kanda of the Garuda Purana an interpolation? [closed]

Question

Is Brahma Kanda of the Garuda Purana an interpolation? The Brahma Kanda of Garuda Purana talks about Dvaita, Vayu, Shankaracharya. It tells that Shankaracharya is maniman. Is it an interpolation?

Answer 1

First of, this question cannot be answered on this site using traditional sources.

Any text can have interpolations but, an average person cannot prove them through religious inquiries method.

On the contrary this what, Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi MahaSwamiji says in his lectures compiled in the book Hindu Dharma

Hindu Dharma: General

There is perhaps an element of the imaginary in the Puranas. It is also possible that they contain interpolations. But who is to determine what parts are imaginary and what passages constitute the interpolations? And who is to seperate the authentic from the spurious? If each one of us removes what seems interpolatory, nothing will be left of the stories in the end. So it would be better to preserve the Puranas in the form in which they have been handed down to us notwithstanding the apparent errors and distortions.

Therefore, the religious perspective on this is - interpolation cannot be proven using methods of religious inquiries, it's better to learn the greater knowledge & wisdom from the texts, rather than finding interpolations.

For finding interpolations, one must contact the suitable expert in the field, which is, as of now, I think, out of the scope of the site at present.

In-Short -

To the question asked - Is Brahma Kanda of the Garuda Purana an interpolation?

From religious perspective, it does not matter, if a particular section of a particular text is said to be interpolated or not.

If at all it helps, the Gita Press Gorakhpur Publications in their Hindi preface to Garuda Purāṇa, doesn not mention anything about the Brahma-Khanda section being an interpolation.

From the scientific or sceptic inquiry perspective, the question is out of Scope of the community guidelines. We cannot answer the question using sources allowed on this site, refer the HSE.META, for the discussion.

Answer 2

The Brahma Kanda of Garuda Purana talks about Dvaita, Vayu, Shankaracharya. It tells that Shankaracharya is maniman. Is it an interpolation?

This is an interesting question, how could Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa know about Śaṅkarācārya who was born centuries/millennia later?

Swami Harshanandaji (may his soul reach the highest abode), who served as the Bengaluru head of the Ramakrishna Ashram since May 1989, says the following in his book, A Concise Encyclopaedia of Hinduism:

Garuḍapurāṇa

Out of the eighteen mahāpurāṇas—all ascribed to the sage Vyāsa—the Garuḍapurāṇa is listed as the seventeenth. It is said to have derived its name from the fact that Viṣṇu taught it to Garuḍa (See also GARUḌA.) at his request.

Assigned to the period A. D. 900, the number of ślokas of this purāṇa, as per different compilations and editions, varies from 8000 to 19,000!

Though considered as a spurious Vaiṣṇava work by the scholar-king Ballaḷasena (12th century A. D.) of the Dānasāgara fame, it is a highly revered work even now.

It comprises two parts: the Pūrva-khaṇḍa (with 240 chapters) and the Uttarakhaṇḍa. The latter again, is divided into two sections, called Pretakalpa (42 chapters) and Brahmakhaṇḍa (29 chapters).

So it's possible that the scholar-king Ballāla Sena authored the Brahma-khaṇḍa or at least the chapter on Śaṅkarācārya. A noble soul like Vyāsa could never say such things about Vāyu or Śaṅkarācārya:

70-71. Vāyu will be born as Maṇimān daitya, known as Śaṅkara. He will be so called, for he will abolish caste and destroy dharma.