Uttara khanda, chapter 236 of Padma Purana classifies Puranas into three categories and attacks Shankara's Advaita by saying Shiva incarnated as Shankara to preach a doctrine that resembles Vedas but actually it is apparent. Many philosophers who preached other Vedanta philosophies accused Shankara and his philosophy as crypto-Buddhist and Crypto-Buddhism respectively. My question here is, who is the first ever person quoted verses from Padma Purana 6.236 while accusing him?


The earliest reference I can find, comes from Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami's Chaitanya Charitamrita in the sixteenth century:

māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁ pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate mayaiva vihitaṁ devi kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā

English Translation: "[Lord Śiva informed goddess Durgā, the superintendent of the material world:] ‘In the Age of Kali I take the form of a brāhmaṇa and explain the Vedas through false scriptures in an atheistic way, similar to Buddhist philosophy.’ ” (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Verse 182)

The above verse is a quotation from the Padma Purana, Uttara-Khanda, Chapter 236.

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