Brahma Sutras - Commentaries

Commentaries

Many commentaries have been written on this text, the earliest extant one being the one by Sri Adi Shankara. His commentary set forth the non-dualistic (Advaita) interpretation of the Vedānta, and was commented upon by Vācaspati and Padmapāda. These sub-commentaries, in turn, inspired other derivative texts in the Advaita school.

Ramanuja also wrote a commentary on the Brahma sutra, called Sri Bhasya, which lays the foundations of the Vishishtadvaita tradition. In this, he firmly refutes the Advaita view as proposed by Adi Shankara in his commentary.

In the 12-13th century, Madhvacharya wrote commentaries on Brahma Sutras, which describe the supremacy of Lord Vishnu or Narayana. Thus he laid out the foundation for Tatvavaada or Dvaita tradition of Vedanta refuting all the previous commentaries on Brahma Sutras. Madhvacharya's four commentaries on Brahma Sutras are, 1-Brahma Sutra Bhashya, 2-Nyaya Vivarana, 3-Anuvyakhyana, 4-Brahma Sutra Anubhashya. Sri Jayatirtha wrote an extant subcommentary to Madhvacharya's Anuvyakhyana called Nyaya Sudha (Nectar of Logic) which is considered as magnum opus in Madhvacharya's school. Dr Surendranath Dasgupta in his work "A History of Indian Philosophy" (Vol IV) has cited, "In my opinion Jayatirtha and Vyasatirtha present the highest dialectical skill in Indian thought".

Other commentators on the Brahma Sūtras, belonging to other schools of Vedānta, include Bhāskara, Yādavaprakāśa, Keśava, Nīlakaņţha, Vallabha, Vijnanabhiksu, Nimbarka, Baladeva Vidyābhūshaņa and Haridas Shastri.