This study examines the hagiographies composed prior to and including the Sankara digvijaya ,eight works in all.Selections from seven previously untranslated texts are presented here for the first time.The book considers how Sankara has been received in India,focusing specifically on the conceptual models upon which his life story is constructed.Firstly,there are the mythic foundations.Secondly,the sense of place is established through the narratives of ? Sankara s all-India tour.

The book examines meditation in the context of the Indian tradition of yoga.It is written from the vantage point of Sankara s Vedanta. Sankara is well known as oneof the foremost interpreters of Hindu tradition.It reviews critically the ways in which Sankara has been approached,for,the problems involved with studying his thought.