Hastamalakacharya

The Mādhavīya Śaṃkaravijayam states that when Adi Shankara was at Kollur, he accepted invitations by brāhmaņas to have Bhikşa (alms or food) at their houses. On such an occasion he visited a village called Śrīvalli (near Chitrapur, Uttara karnataka), where every house was said to emit the holy smell of the smoke of Agnihotra sacrifice, to accept Bhikşa. That place was inhabited by about two thousand brāhmaņas who were learned in the Vedas and performed the Yajnas prescribed in the Vedas. There was also a temple dedicated to Shiva and Parvati.

In that village there lived a brāhmaņa, Prabhākara, who was noted for his learning. He had a son who though appearing quite handsome, behaved rather like an idiot. Though upanayanam was performed for him, he did not take to studying the Vedas, instead preferred to sit around doing nothing. Hearing about Adi Shankara's visit, Prabhākara approached the Acharya (teacher) with a load of fruit and prostrated before him. He also made his son prostrate before him. Prabhākara explained to Adi Shankara that his son behaved rather like an idiot and sat idly throughout the day.

Then, Adi Shankara addressed that young boy and asked him who he was. The boy replied in 12 verses containing the gist of the Advaita philosophy.[1][2] Thus Adi Shankara was immensely impressed with him and accepted him as his disciple. He was named Hastāmalaka (one with the amalaka fruit in his hand) since the knowledge of the Self was natural to him like an Amalaka fruit in one's hand. Adi Shankara took the boy into his party and started towards his next destination.

• Adi Shankara
• Advaita Vedanta

• Madhava Vidyaranya, Sankara-Digvijaya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2002, ISBN 81-7120-434-1. Purchase online at www.sriramakrishnamath.org Archived 25 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine

• Hastamlakam Side by side translation in Hindi and English
• Sri Hastamalakacharya
• Sri Hastamalakacharya