Hastamala was one of the first four disciples of Adi
Shankaracharya. He is believed to be the son of Prabhakara of the Mimamsa
School and lived at present day Gokarna in Karnataka. He is considered to be
jivanmukta, liberated while living in the body.
Legend has it that as a child, Hastamala could not speak and
was considered dull-witted. Once on a pilgrimage, the child slipped into water.
A yogi who happened to witness this revived the child by entering into his
body.
When Adi Shankaracharya visited Gokarna, Hastamala’s father
took him to the great teacher.
Shankara asked boy who he was. The body suddenly recited
twelve beautiful verses, saying that he was but pure consciousness with no distinctions.
The twelve verses deal with the nature of reality. It is
known by the names of Haptamalaka Shloka, Vedanta Siddhanta Dipika and Viveka
Manjari. Adi Shankaracharya wrote a commentary on it and it is known as
Hastamalakiyam.
Shankaracharya accepted the child as his disciple and named
him Hastamalaka, as the boy had expounded the truth as clearly as if he
held it like an amalaka fruit in his hand.
Hastamalaka is also credited with another work, Anubhava
Vedanta Prakarana on Advaita Vedanta, where the last sentence of each verse has
the refrain, “I am the true self.”
Source – Encyclopedia of Hinduism Volume IV published by
India Heritage Research Foundation.