Gaudapada
Vedanta philosopher, Hinduism
Gauḍapāda (Sanskrit: गौडपाद; fl.c. 6th century CE), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya (Sanskrit: गौडपादाचार्य; "Gauḍapāda the Teacher"), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details of his biography are uncertain, his ideas inspired others such as Adi Shankara who called him a Paramaguru (highest teacher).
Gaudapada was the author or compiler of the Māṇḍūkya Kārikā, also known as Gaudapada Karika. The text consists of four chapters (also called four books), of which Chapter Four uses Buddhist terminology thereby showing it was influenced by Buddhism. However, doctrinally Gaudapada's work is Vedantic, and not Buddhist. The first three chapters of Gaudapada's text have been influential in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Parts of the first chapter that include the Mandukya Upanishad have been considered a valid scriptural source by the Dvaita and Vishistadvaita schools of Vedanta.
Dates
The century in which Gaudapada lived and his life details are uncertain. Estimates vary from early 6th to 7th century CE. He is generally dated based on estimates for Adi Shankara, whose teacher Govinda Bhagavatpada is presumed to be the direct disciple of Gaudapada. Shankara, in some texts, refers to Gaudapada as the "teacher's teacher" who knows the tradition of the Vedānta (sampradāya-vit).
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1771062. VIAF identifies the subject as 36918680. The Library of Congress control number is n50072394. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gaudapada” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.