Saundarya Lahari
Introduction

India has always presents a complex matrix of cross-crossing cultural currents to both the visitor as well as many of her residents. The paradoxical juxtaposition of opposites, often seen side by side, forms a rich tapestry rather than a homogeneous society with easily defined parameters. Any attempt to unravel some of the contradictions draws the seeker at least 30 centuries into the past. Even then the mystery might get even more intriguing rather than resolved. The German philosopher Hegel thought that India did not possess any history as such. True, the records of historical events are rather sketchy and the hagiographical accounts of the past cannot be considered as true history. Yet customs have persisted from the Bronze Age and one can see the happy coexistence of the various strata of history in the practice and the philosophy of the people.

Let us here trace a fairly simple pathway based on current scholarship as well as the insights afforded by the huge body of texts that have survived and the complex practices that are still being followed on the subcontinent.

The earliest strata surviving in the modern world is made up of various tribal communities. Indigenous peoples such the Mundas and the Gonds have a rich tradition of folklore, art and craft as well as knowledge of medicinal plants. This ancient strata forms the earliest layer and the basis for the development of myths, legends, and traditional medicine, which were further refined and classified by later generations.

With the discovery of the The Indus Valley civilization a highly developed urban culture, with refined handicrafts, sophisticated agriculture and contemplative traditions was established. The contemplative proto-Siva model comes from this time, as well as the worship of the goddess. The Indus Valley Civilization was followed by the Vedic overlay, which introduced a host of new gods, new customs and a new social stratifications. Not everybody agreed with the Vedic way and there were notable differences, such as Buddhism. The Vedic teachings themsevles underwent considerable revaluation and were restated in the more contemplative teachings of the Upanisads. The polytheism of the Vedas is absorbed into the montheistic philosophy of the Vedanta. Vedanta developed into the most refined philosophical system based on the teachings of the Upanisads.

A long spell of Buddhism dominated the Indian subcontinent with Asoka being the most prominent king to be deeply influenced by the Buddha's teachings. A long line of Buddhist scholars and teachers refined the teachings of the buddha and established a distinct school of Buddhism.
In the 8th Century there arose in Kerala a brilliant thinker named Sankara who traveled the length and breadth of India and was able to establish his school of Advaita Vedanta based on the work done by an earlier Guru named Gaudapada whose commentary on the Mandukya Upanisad, called the Mandukya Karika, became the basis for Sankara's own philosophy of non-dualism. With the establishment of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism lost its potency in India.


The next significant cultural pattern was the Islamic empire during Medieval times. This was followed by British colonization in the modern era.

In the course of this mixing and sifting, blast and counterblast, juxtaposition and revaluation, many ideas were gained ascendancy and others declined. A quest for the truth persisted though these outward upheavals and the desire to know the ultimate knowledge continued to inspire the best minds. The perennial questions of "Who am I?" and "Whence the world?" never ceased to engage the intelligent person.

Vedanta became the Weltenshuaagen of the elite, while the grass-root masses preserved their own ritual, folklore and non-vedic traditons. Yoga, Sri Vidya and Tantra belong to the non-vedic sources. While the elite found their solace in abstract and sophisticated philosophy, the grass-root masses happy followed their own patterns of behavior and their own belief systems. It was not possible to ignore the attraction of non-Vedic traditions. It is this tension between a sophisticated elite culture and the popularity of grass-root movements that is resolved by Sankara in the Saundarya Lahari.

Saundarya Lahari, "The Upsurging Billows of Beauty" is a composition by Shankara. It is in Sanskrit and consists of 100 verses.

Ever since serious scholars have studied the Saundarya Lahari, there have been controversy about the authorship of this work. Sankara is a staunch Advaita Vedantin and a composer of many Sanskrit classical works including commentaries on the major Upanisads and the Bhagavad Gita.

The Saundarya Lahari is a poem in praise of the Universal Goddess, or Shakti. The work is rich in images, metaphor and allegory and hence it roused a lot of controversy about the authorship of Sankara. While Advaita Vedanta speaks of the highest as having no form or name, the Saundarya Lahari describes the beauty of the feminine form.

Nataraja Guru confirms that the Saundarya Lahari is indeed a composition of Sankara and he also gives us the insight that the work is written in proto-language which is the primordial form of communication using symbols. The other works by Sankara are written in meta-language, which is language about language. Today symbolic language presents to us a new possibility of communicating as the world gets rushed and there is lack to time to read through voluminous texts.

Once the work is seen as a proto-linguistic expression it begins to reveal the possibility of teaching Vedanta through the symbols of Beauty.

Advaita Vedanta is the culmination of an inquiry that has its basis in the Upanisads. Earlier in the Vedas there are references to the Ultimate Being. This notion is developed in the Upanisads.

Saundarya is Beauty. Lahari is the Upsurging billow. Beauty can be represented in several ways. In the mineral world we have gems as the most beautiful; in the botanical world it is flower that is considered most beautiful; and in the human world the woman is considered most beautiful.