section_path: Works/Authentic works
section_name: Authentic works
paragraph_text: Authentic works
  
  Shankara is most known for his systematic reviews and commentaries (Bhasyas) on ancient Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the Brahmasutrabhasya (literally, commentary on Brahma Sutra), a fundamental text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism.
  
  According to Flood, of the Upanishadic commentaries only his commentaries on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the Taittiriya Upanishad are authentic. Hacker and Mayeda also accept as authentic the commentaries on the Chandogya Upanishad, the Aitareya Upanishad, the Kena Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, and the Prashna Upanishad. The authenticity of the commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapadas Madukya-karika has been questioned.
  
  Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (part of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya). His Vivarana (tertiary notes) on the commentary by Vedavyasa on Yogasutras as well as those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras (Adhyatama-patala-bhasya) are accepted by scholars as authentic works of Shankara. Among the Stotra (poetic works), the Dakshinamurti Stotra, the Bhajagovinda Stotra, the Shivanandalahari, the Carpata-panjarika, th e Visnu-satpadi, the Harimide, the Dasha-shloki, and the Krishna-staka are likely to be authentic.
  
  Shankara also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work. Of other original Prakaranas (प्रकरण, monographs, treatise), seventy-six works are attributed to Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars such as Belvalkar as well as Upadhyaya accept five and thirty-nine works respectively as authentic.
  
  Shankara's stotras considered authentic include those dedicated to Krishna (Vaishnavism) and one to Shiva (Shaivism) – often considered two different sects within Hinduism. Scholars suggest that these stotra are not sectarian, but essentially Advaitic and reach for a unified universal view of Vedanta.
  
  Shankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the oldest surviving. However, in that commentary, he mentions older commentaries like those of Dravida, Bhartrprapancha and others which are either lost or yet to be found.