Vish/n/u or Siva, which, for many centuries, have been the chief objects
of popular worship in India. In the second place, the doctrine advocated
by /S/a@nkara is, from a purely philosophical point of view and apart
from all theological considerations, the most important and interesting
one which has arisen on Indian soil; neither those forms of the Vedânta
which diverge from the view represented by /S/a@nkara nor any of the
non-Vedântic systems can be compared with the so-called orthodox Vedânta
in boldness, depth, and subtlety of speculation. In the third place,
/S/a@nkara's bhâashya is, as far as we know, the oldest of the extant
commentaries, and relative antiquity is at any rate one of the
circumstances which have to be taken into account, although, it must be
admitted, too much weight may easily be attached to it. The
/S/a@nkara-bhâshya further is the authority most generally deferred to
in India as to the right understanding of the Vedânta-sûtras, and ever
since /S/a@nkara's time the majority of the best thinkers of India have
been men belonging to his school. If in addition to all this we take
into consideration the intrinsic merits of /S/a@nkara's work which, as a
piece of philosophical argumentation and theological apologetics,
undoubtedly occupies a high rank, the preference here given to it will
be easily understood.

But to the European--or, generally, modern--translator of the
Vedânta-sûtras with /S/a@nkara's commentary another question will of
course suggest itself at once, viz. whether or not /S/a@nkara's
explanations faithfully render the intended meaning of the author of the
Sûtras. To the Indian Pandit of /S/a@nkara's school this question has
become an indifferent one, or, to state the case more accurately, he
objects to it being raised, as he looks on /S/a@nkara's authority as
standing above doubt and dispute. When pressed to make good his position
he will, moreover, most probably not enter into any detailed comparison