Determining the Dates of Sankara:- To fix with any certainty the exact dates of Sankara is one of the most perplexing & controversial problems in the historyof Indian pjilosophy. This is a common difficulty experienced in regard to many Indian historical personalities due to a paucity of records as well as conflicting traditions which appear in different parts of the country. The Life of Sankara:- The lion of Vedanta appeared: the universe of duality rejoied. Though Sankara’s place within both Hinduism & the Advanta Vedanta philosophical tradition is tremendous & he commands the highest respect &reverence, studies about his life are scant & controversial. They contain a profusion of legends & are filled with incredible miracles, seeming exaggerations & distortions, & inconsistencies. Whether this is a strength of the various accounts, or a weakness, depends upon one’s perspective & interpretive abilities. Before us is a recoed of experiences, stories, legends (however incomplete), exaggerated, & unresearched, for which there are no explanations. At least a thousand years have passed & still we have but partial understandings, misinterpertions, & naïve interpretions. THE WORKS OF SANKARA:- The lion of Vedanta roared; the universe of duality disappeared During Sankara’s relatively short life, more than four hundred works including commentaries & sub-commentaries (bhasya & varttika ), independent work (prakarana),& hymns, poetry, & praises of deities (stotra, stava, stuti) have been attributed to him. It is generally agreed that the majority of these works are apocryphal. In all likelihood this list grew to such proportions because, in order to give a book authenticity, it has long been a common practice in India to attribute it to a famous author. Further, all the heads (mathadipati or jagadguru) of the various Sankara monasteries have bornne the title ‘Sankaracarya’ & thus any works which they wrote could easily be mistaken for, & legitimately called, a work of Sankaracarya. (MOTILAL BANARSIDASS)