GAUDAPADA

(c. 750–800 C.E.)

Vedantic philosopher

Gaudapada is best known as the guru of Govinda, guru of the famous philosopher SHANKARA. He is the earliest writer in the movement to revive the UPANISHADIC tradition of non-dual (ADVAITA) philosophy. His is author of a commentary on the MANDUKYA Upanishad, called the Mandukya-karika, which consists of four segments or books. This work was commented on in turn by Shan-kara. Notable in the text of Mandukyakarika is the use of Buddhistic terminology. This has been shown to reflect not Buddhist influence on the VEDANTIC tradition, but rather an attempt to pros-elytize the Buddhists.