Preface

This thesis is an outcome of my academic journey in and through Indian Philosophy since my younger days. While studying my PG courses at the Department of philosophy, University of Madras, I happened to go through the book “Gaudapada: A Study in Early Vedanta”, by TMP Mahadevan and I was struck by the arguments against Buddhists and in support of Advaita given by the learned Professor. This book evinced an interest in me and I thought of pursuing my research studies if a chance is given to me. After my PG courses, my teacher and the then HOD of the Department of Philosophy Professor S. Panneerselvam recommended my name to Professor G. Mishra for the Ph.D. course and I was fortunate enough to enrol as a research student with his guidance. In the course of my study, Professor Mishra suggested me to go through several books on the topics related to Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism and I was lucky to read through such a vast literature related to Buddhism and Advaita and started working on this research thesis titled “Mahayana Buddhism and Early Advaita Vedanta: A Critical Study” the topic that was suggested by my supervisor.

In this study, I have tried to show how Buddhism, especially Mahayana, which grew on Indian religious atmosphere was assimilated into Vedantic theorisation in due course of time since philosophical distance between them became minimal with the advent of Gaudapada and later on his most renowned grand-disciple Adi Sankaracarya. Both of them were the harbingers of Sanatanic Hinduism and were votaries of Vedic knowledge tradition that gave a logical insurance that ignorance is the cause of bondage and the knowledge of the self is therefore the way to get released from the trans-migratory binding. The whole thesis is a long essay dealing with this theme as delineated in Mahayana Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta.