The Satadhusani is a work by the Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desikan consisting of 100 refutations of Adi Shankaracharya's philosophy of Advaita. One chapter of the work is devoted to refuting the Advaita view that those who have attained Brahmajnana do not have to follow the rules of Varnashrama Dharma. Among other things, Vedanta Desikan responds to the Advaita argument that walking with staffs is for Sanyasis who haven't attained Brahmajnana yet, not Sanyasis who have attained it:
As to the assertion: "The taking of a staff pertains to the non-enlightened", that too is just rash talk, because the staff is enjoined specifically with reference to the enlightened. How can you, a man of supereminent wisdom, conclude that great seers such as Kapila, Panchashikha, and Durvasa, who are stated in the Itihasas and Puranas to have worn ochre robes and topknots and to have carried staffs, as well as Shankara and other founders of your doctrine, and men such as Lord Nathamuni, Bhaskara, and Yadavaprakasha, are all unenlightened? Now that is the cry of a non-Vedic doctrine, and so it pleases nobody.
I discuss Nathamuni, Bhaskaracharya, and Yadavaprakasha in my question here. But I'm interested in the part in bold. My question is, what scriptures describe Kapila, Panchashikha, and Durvasa carrying Sanyasi staffs?
Kapila is the name of the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, and the name of an incarnation of Vishnu born to Kardama and Devahuti, who may or may not be the same person as I discuss here. Panchashikha was a Samkhya philosopher who was Kapila's shishya's shishya. And Durvasa is a Rishi who is the son of Atri and an incarnation of Shiva. But where in the Itihasas and Puranas are their Sanyasi staffs mentioned?
