Totakacharya (
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...
') 8th century
CE) was a disciple of
Ādi Śaṅkara, the
Advaita Vedanta teacher. He was made the first Jagadguru (''head'') of the
Jyotir Pīthaṃ, the original northern
maṭha founded by Ādi Śaṅkara in
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...
. He founded a maṭha by name Vadakke modam in Thrissur, Kerala.
Meeting Ādi Śaṅkara
The states that when Ādi Śaṅkara was at
Śṛṅgeri, he met a boy named Giri. Ādi Śaṅkara accepted the boy as his disciple. Giri was a hard-working and loyal disciple of his
Guru
Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...
, Ādi Śaṅkara, though he did not appear bright to the other disciples. One day, Giri was busy plucking flowers for pooja, when Ādi Śaṅkara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedānta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores and singing lessons. At this,
Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that it would be the same if Ādi Śaṅkara taught to this dumb object as he taught to Giri. Now, Ādi Śaṅkara wanted to reward Giri for his loyalty and devotion. Thus he mentally granted Giri the complete knowledge of all the śāstras (''sciences''). The enlightened Giri composed extempore the
Toṭakāṣṭakam, a
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
poem in the ''toṭaka'' metre, in praise of the Guru Ādi Śaṅkara. Thus the humble disciple Giri became Toṭakācārya.
Works
*Śrutisārasamuddharaņa — Published edition: Edited with a commentary titled Girisambhutaratna, by Swami Vidyananda Giri, Sri Kailash Ashrama, Rishikesh, 1972
*Toṭakāṣṭakam
Toṭakāṣṭakam
The
Toṭakāṣṭakam was composed by Giri in praise of his Guru Ādiśaṅkara. Literally, it means a rhyme of eight (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ) verses (
śloka
Shloka or śloka ( , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927).) in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is "any verse or stan ...
s) composed by Toṭaka. The poem's meter is
anapestic tetrameter
Anapestic tetrameter ( British spelling: anapaestic) is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a "reverse dactyl", an ...
, with four
feet
The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...
of unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables (laghu-laghu-guru characters) per line, and four lines per stanza.
Footnotes
# The delusion here refers to Avidyā. According to Advaitavedānta the whole world is a figment of imagination and perceived as real due to delusion. The poet is asking for removal of this delusion from his preceptor. The poet has no confusion about Śiva being Śaṅkara.
See also
*
Gnanananda Giri
*
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...
*
Advaita Vedanta
References
*Comans, Michael (aka
Vasudevacharya) (1996) ''Extracting the Essence of the Sruti: The Srutisarasamuddharnam of Totakacarya'' – Publ. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, India.
*
Madhava Vidyaranya, Sankara-Digvijaya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2002, {{ISBN, 81-7120-434-1. Purchase online a
www.sriramakrishnamath.org
Advaitin philosophers
People from Chamoli district