bhāṣya and ṭīkā

In many ways, commentaries rule the world. Those who are competent to do so are certainly free and able to understand vedāntic texts in the original. Those who are not generally rely on traditional interpretations by commentators of sub-commentators. In the advaita-vedānta tradition, the most celebrated commentator (bhāṣyakāra) is ādi śaṁkara, and the most celebrated sub-commentator (ṭīkākāra) is ānandagiri. 

The role of the bhāṣyakāra is to take the various seemingly disparate statements of veda and gītā and thread them into a singular vision. The role of the ṭīkākāra is to add context to bhāṣyakāra's statements. There are some traditional ślokas which define these roles differently, but they over-generalize and/or over-specify the roles.

The bhāṣya's introduction to the muṇḍaka upaniṣat offers a good example. It starts:

• The upaniṣad, starting with "brahmā devānām" belongs to the atharva-veda.
• By way of eulogy, the upaniṣad itself reveals at the very beginning the connection, forged by a succession of teachers of the knowledge, that this upaniṣad has.

The ṭīkā frames the context for each statement. It answers questions such as:

• Why does śaṁkara comment on this upaniṣad rather than another of the many upaniṣads associated with the atharva veda? 
• Since this upaniṣad talks about brahma's teachings, taught by teachers to students, doesn't it suffer from the pitfalls of human authorship?
• How is it appropriate for the upaniṣad to eulogize itself?

The bhāṣya and ṭīkā are very powerful, eloquent tools.