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Wellsprings
Aṣṭāvakra

Aṣṭāvakra

1450 CE

legendary; the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā is a much later Advaita text (often dated c. 14th–15th c. CE or later, disputed)

Aṣṭāvakra is a legendary sage appearing in the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas, where he is born with eight deformities yet defeats court scholars in debate. His name is later attached to the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā (or Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā), a terse Advaita dialogue with King Janaka prized in modern non-dual circles; this text, however, is a far later composition (commonly dated to the medieval period, perhaps c. 14th–15th c. CE, with significant uncertainty) and its connection to the epic figure is purely traditional. Aṣṭāvakra himself should be treated as a legendary frame-figure.

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Aṣṭāvakra’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works(1)