Amaru Shataka - Authorship

Authorship

Not much is known about the life of Amaru. Traditional accounts attribute the work to King Amaru of Kashmir. The collection in its present form may well represent the work of more than one author—the poems that form part of the collection differ quite significantly across its different regional recensions.

There are also a number of legends associating the collection with the philosopher Adi Shankara. One version occurs in his 14th century biography written by a follower, the Shankara-digvijaya. According to this version, during his debate with Maṇḍana Miśra, he was asked philosophical questions phrased in metaphors of love by the latter's wife, Ubhaya Bharati. Being celibate and therefore ignorant of the kama shastras, Shankara requested an adjournment. He then entered the recently-dead body of Amaru and spent a hundred days mastering the art of erotic love, before returning to defeat his opponent. He wrote the Amarushataka to memorialise his learning.

Another version, given in Ravichandra's commentary on the Amarushataka, states that Shankara composed these poems to impart spiritual insight to the epicurean king Amaru, in metaphors he might understand. When this was misunderstood and mocked by the advisers at the court, Shnakara entered the body of Amaru and provided a spiritual exegesis of the poems.

Accordingly, several manuscripts add colophons naming Shankara as the true author of the work, and Ravichandra, a mediaeval commentator on the Bengal recension of the Amarusataka, read metaphysical meanings into the verses. Other legends also state that Amaru was the 101st reincarnation of a soul that had previously occupied 100 women.