a
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word meaning "investigation" (compare Greek ἱστορία), is the name of an astika ("orthodox") school of
Hindu philosophyHindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
whose primary enquiry is into the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
based on close
hermeneutics of the
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. The nature of dharma is not accessible to reason or observation, and must be inferred from the authority of the
revelationIn religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
contained in the Vedas, which are considered eternal, authorless (
apaurusheyatvaIn Hinduism, Apaurusheyatva , Sanskrit, "being unauthored", is used to describe the Vedas, the main scripture in Hinduism. This implies that the Vedas are not authored by any agency, be it human or divine...
), and infallible. The school of Mimamsa consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines and is not deeply considered in the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
, rather in the character of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
.
Mimamsa strongly concerned with textual
exegesisExegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
, and consequently gave rise to the study of
philologyPhilology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and the
philosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
. Its notion of shabda "speech" as indivisible unity of sound and meaning (signifier and signified) is due to Bhartrhari (7th century).
Terminology
Mimamsa is also known as ("prior" inquiry, also ), in contrast to ("posterior" inquiry, also ) is the opposing school of
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. This division is based on the notion of a
dichotomyA dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
of the Vedic texts into a
, the department of the Veda treating of sacrificial rites (
SamhitaSamhita may refer to"*the basic metrical text of each of the Vedas**specifically, these texts with sandhi applied *post-Vedic texts known as Samhitas:** Ashtavakra Gita...
s and
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
s), and the
dealing with the knowledge of
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
(the Upanishads).
Tenets
The core tenets of are
ritualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
ism (orthopraxy), anti-asceticism and anti-mysticism. The central aim of the school is elucidation of the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
, understood as a set ritual obligations and prerogatives to be performed properly.
Epistemology
In the field of
epistemology, later Mimāṃsākas made some notable contributions. Unlike the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
or the
VaisheshikaVaisheshika or ' is one of the six Hindu schools of philosophy of India. Historically, it has been closely associated with the Hindu school of logic, Nyaya....
systems, the school recognizes five
pramanas (means of valid knowledge) and the school recognizes six. In addition to the four
pramanas (
pratyakṣa,
anumāna,
upamānaUpamana , in Hinduism, is a pramana, or means of having knowledge of something. Observance of similarities provides knowledge of the relationship between the two....
and
śabda) accepted by the Nyaya school, the school recognizes
arthāpatti (presumption) and the school recognizes both
arthāpatti and
anuapalabdhi (non-apprehension) as the valid means of knowledge. A more interesting feature of the Mimāṃsā school of philosophy is its unique epistemological theory of the intrinsic validity of all cognition as such. It is held that all knowledge is ipso facto true (
Satahprāmāṇyavāda). Thus, what is to be proven is not the truth of a cognition, but its falsity. The Mimāṃsākas advocate the self-validity of knowledge both in respect of its origin (
utpatti) and ascertainment (
jñapti). Not only did the Mimāṃsākas make the very great use of this theory to establish the unchallengeable validity of the Vedas, but later Vedantists also drew freely upon this particular Mimāṃsā contribution.
Dharma
DharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
as understood by Poorva Mimāmsā can be loosely translated into English as "virtue", "morality" or "duty". The Poorva Mimāmsā school traces the source of the knowledge of dharma neither to sense-experience nor inference, but to verbal
cognitionIn science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
(i.e. knowledge of words and meanings) according to Vedas. In this respect it is related to the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
school, the latter, however, allows less Prāmānas (proofs) than Poorva Mimāmsā.
The Poorva Mimāmsā school held
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
to be equivalent to following the prescriptions of the Samhitas and their
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
commentaries relating the correct performance of
Vedic ritualIn Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...
s. Seen in this light, Poorva Mimamsa is essentially ritualist (orthopraxy), placing great weight on the performance of
KarmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
or action as enjoined by the Vedas.
Atheism
Mimamsa' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...
theorists decided that the evidence allegedly proving the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
was insufficient. They argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals. Mimamsa argues that the Gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the
mantraA mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of Gods.
Relation to Vedānta
Emphasis of Yajnic Karmakāndas in Poorva Mimāmsā is erroneously interpreted by some to be an opposition to Jnānakānda of Vedānta and Upanishadas. Poorva Mimāmsā does not discuss topics related to Jnānakānda, such as
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
or salvation, but it never speaks against
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
. Vedānta quotes Jaimini's belief in Brahman as well as in moksha:
In Uttara-Mīmāmsā or Vedānta (4.4.5-7), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying (ब्राह्मेण जैमिनिरूपन्यासादिभ्यः) "
(The mukta Purusha is united with the Brahman) as if it were like the Brahman, because descriptions (in Shruti etc) prove so".
In Vedānta (1.2.28), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying that "There is no contradiction in taking Vaishvānara as the supreme Brahman".
In 1.2.31, Jaimini is again quoted by Bādarāyana as saying that the nirguna (attribute-less) Brahman can manifest itself as having a form.
In 4.3.12, Bādarāyana again cites Jaimini as saying that the mukta Purusha attains Brahman.
In Poorva Mimāmsā too, Jaimini emphasises the importance of faith in and attachment to the Omnipotent Supreme Being Whom Jaimini calls "The Omnipotent Pradhaana" (The Main):
Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1: "sarvaśaktau pravṛttiḥ syāt tathābhūtopadeśāt" (सर्वशक्तौ प्रवृत्तिः स्यात् तथाभूतोपदेशात्). The term Upadesha here is means instructions of the Shāstras as taught. We should tend towards the Omnipotent Supreme Being. In the context of Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1 shown above, next two sutras becomes significant, in which this Omnipotent Being is termed as "Pradhāna", and keeping away from Him is said to be a "Dosha", hence all beings are asked to get related ("abhisambandhāt" in tadakarmaṇi ca doṣas tasmāt tato viśeṣaḥ syāt pradhānenābhisambandhāt; Jaimini 6, 3.3) to the "Omnipotent Main Being" (api vāpy ekadeśe syāt pradhāne hy arthanirvṛttir guṇamātram itarat tadarthatvāt; Jaimini 6, 3.2). Karma-Mīmāmsā supports the Vedas, and Rgveda says that one Truth is variously named by the sages. It is irrelevant whether we call Him as Pradhāna or Brahman or Vaishvānara or Shiva or God.
History
The school's origins lie in the scholarly traditions of the final centuries BCE, when the priestly ritualism of Vedic sacrifice was being marginalized by
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. To counteract this challenge, several groups emerged dedicated to demonstrating the validity of the Vedic texts by rigid formulation of rules for their interpretation. The school gathers momentum in the Gupta period with
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
, and reaches its apex in the 7th to 8th centuries with and
PrabhākaraPrabhākara was an Indian philosopher grammarian in the Mimamsa tradition. His views and his debate with led to the Prābhākara school within Mimamsa.Commentaries on Prabhakara have been written by Shalikanatha in the 8th c....
.
The school for some time in the Early Middle Ages exerted near-dominant influence on learned Hindu thought, and is credited as a major force contributing to the
decline of Buddhism in IndiaThe decline of Buddhism in India, the land of its birth, occurred for a variety of reasons, and happened even as it continued to flourish beyond the frontiers of India. Buddhism was established in the area of ancient Magadha and Kosala by Gautama Buddha in the 6th century BCE, in what is now modern...
, but it has fallen into decline in the High Middle Ages and today is all but eclipsed by Vedanta.
Mimamsa texts
The foundational text for the Mimamsa school is the
Purva Mimamsa SutrasThe Mimamsa Sutra or the Purva Mimamsa Sutras , written by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy...
of Jaimini (ca. 3rd to 1st century BCE). A major commentary was composed by
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
in ca. the 5th or 6th century CE. The school reaches its height with
{{Hindu philosophy}}
{{IAST|Mīmāṃsā}} (मीमांसा), a SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word meaning "investigation" (compare Greek ἱστορία), is the name of an astika ("orthodox") school of
Hindu philosophyHindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
whose primary enquiry is into the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
based on close
hermeneutics of the
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. The nature of dharma is not accessible to reason or observation, and must be inferred from the authority of the
revelationIn religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
contained in the Vedas, which are considered eternal, authorless (
apaurusheyatvaIn Hinduism, Apaurusheyatva , Sanskrit, "being unauthored", is used to describe the Vedas, the main scripture in Hinduism. This implies that the Vedas are not authored by any agency, be it human or divine...
), and infallible. The school of Mimamsa consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines and is not deeply considered in the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
, rather in the character of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
.
Mimamsa strongly concerned with textual
exegesisExegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
, and consequently gave rise to the study of
philologyPhilology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and the
philosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
. Its notion of shabda "speech" as indivisible unity of sound and meaning (signifier and signified) is due to Bhartrhari (7th century).
Terminology
Mimamsa is also known as {{IAST|
Pūrva Mīmāṃsā}} ("prior" inquiry, also {{IAST|
Karma-Mīmāṃsā}}), in contrast to {{IAST|
Uttara Mīmāṃsā}} ("posterior" inquiry, also {{IAST|
Brahma-Mīmāṃsā}}) is the opposing school of
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. This division is based on the notion of a
dichotomyA dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
of the Vedic texts into a
{{IAST|karmakāṇḍa}}, the department of the Veda treating of sacrificial rites (
SamhitaSamhita may refer to"*the basic metrical text of each of the Vedas**specifically, these texts with sandhi applied *post-Vedic texts known as Samhitas:** Ashtavakra Gita...
s and
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
s), and the
{{IAST|jñānakāṇḍa}} dealing with the knowledge of
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
(the Upanishads).
Tenets
The core tenets of {{IAST|
Pūrva Mīmāṃsā}} are
ritualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
ism (orthopraxy), anti-asceticism and anti-mysticism. The central aim of the school is elucidation of the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
, understood as a set ritual obligations and prerogatives to be performed properly.
Epistemology
In the field of
epistemology, later Mimāṃsākas made some notable contributions. Unlike the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
or the
VaisheshikaVaisheshika or ' is one of the six Hindu schools of philosophy of India. Historically, it has been closely associated with the Hindu school of logic, Nyaya....
systems, the {{IAST|Prābhākara}} school recognizes five
pramanas (means of valid knowledge) and the {{IAST|Bhāṭṭa}} school recognizes six. In addition to the four
pramanas (
pratyakṣa,
anumāna,
upamānaUpamana , in Hinduism, is a pramana, or means of having knowledge of something. Observance of similarities provides knowledge of the relationship between the two....
and
śabda) accepted by the Nyaya school, the {{IAST|Prābhākara}} school recognizes
arthāpatti (presumption) and the {{IAST|Bhāṭṭa}} school recognizes both
arthāpatti and
anuapalabdhi (non-apprehension) as the valid means of knowledge. A more interesting feature of the Mimāṃsā school of philosophy is its unique epistemological theory of the intrinsic validity of all cognition as such. It is held that all knowledge is ipso facto true (
Satahprāmāṇyavāda). Thus, what is to be proven is not the truth of a cognition, but its falsity. The Mimāṃsākas advocate the self-validity of knowledge both in respect of its origin (
utpatti) and ascertainment (
jñapti). Not only did the Mimāṃsākas make the very great use of this theory to establish the unchallengeable validity of the Vedas, but later Vedantists also drew freely upon this particular Mimāṃsā contribution.
Dharma
DharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
as understood by Poorva Mimāmsā can be loosely translated into English as "virtue", "morality" or "duty". The Poorva Mimāmsā school traces the source of the knowledge of dharma neither to sense-experience nor inference, but to verbal
cognitionIn science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
(i.e. knowledge of words and meanings) according to Vedas. In this respect it is related to the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
school, the latter, however, allows less Prāmānas (proofs) than Poorva Mimāmsā.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}
The Poorva Mimāmsā school held
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
to be equivalent to following the prescriptions of the Samhitas and their
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
commentaries relating the correct performance of
Vedic ritualIn Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...
s. Seen in this light, Poorva Mimamsa is essentially ritualist (orthopraxy), placing great weight on the performance of
KarmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
or action as enjoined by the Vedas.
Atheism
Mimamsa' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...
theorists decided that the evidence allegedly proving the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
was insufficient. They argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals. Mimamsa argues that the Gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the
mantraA mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of Gods.
Relation to Vedānta
Emphasis of Yajnic Karmakāndas in Poorva Mimāmsā is erroneously interpreted by some to be an opposition to Jnānakānda of Vedānta and Upanishadas. Poorva Mimāmsā does not discuss topics related to Jnānakānda, such as
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
or salvation, but it never speaks against
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
. Vedānta quotes Jaimini's belief in Brahman as well as in moksha:
In Uttara-Mīmāmsā or Vedānta (4.4.5-7), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying (ब्राह्मेण जैमिनिरूपन्यासादिभ्यः) "
(The mukta Purusha is united with the Brahman) as if it were like the Brahman, because descriptions (in Shruti etc) prove so".
In Vedānta (1.2.28), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying that "There is no contradiction in taking Vaishvānara as the supreme Brahman".
In 1.2.31, Jaimini is again quoted by Bādarāyana as saying that the nirguna (attribute-less) Brahman can manifest itself as having a form.
In 4.3.12, Bādarāyana again cites Jaimini as saying that the mukta Purusha attains Brahman.
In Poorva Mimāmsā too, Jaimini emphasises the importance of faith in and attachment to the Omnipotent Supreme Being Whom Jaimini calls "The Omnipotent Pradhaana" (The Main):
Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1: "sarvaśaktau pravṛttiḥ syāt tathābhūtopadeśāt" (सर्वशक्तौ प्रवृत्तिः स्यात् तथाभूतोपदेशात्). The term Upadesha here is means instructions of the Shāstras as taught. We should tend towards the Omnipotent Supreme Being. In the context of Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1 shown above, next two sutras becomes significant, in which this Omnipotent Being is termed as "Pradhāna", and keeping away from Him is said to be a "Dosha", hence all beings are asked to get related ("abhisambandhāt" in tadakarmaṇi ca doṣas tasmāt tato viśeṣaḥ syāt pradhānenābhisambandhāt; Jaimini 6, 3.3) to the "Omnipotent Main Being" (api vāpy ekadeśe syāt pradhāne hy arthanirvṛttir guṇamātram itarat tadarthatvāt; Jaimini 6, 3.2). Karma-Mīmāmsā supports the Vedas, and Rgveda says that one Truth is variously named by the sages. It is irrelevant whether we call Him as Pradhāna or Brahman or Vaishvānara or Shiva or God.
History
The school's origins lie in the scholarly traditions of the final centuries BCE, when the priestly ritualism of Vedic sacrifice was being marginalized by
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. To counteract this challenge, several groups emerged dedicated to demonstrating the validity of the Vedic texts by rigid formulation of rules for their interpretation. The school gathers momentum in the Gupta period with
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
, and reaches its apex in the 7th to 8th centuries with {{IAST|
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa' was a Hindu philosopher and Mimamsa scholar from Assam. He is famous for many of his seminal theses on Mimamsa, such as Mimamsaslokavarttika. Bhatta was an staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction, a great champion of Purva-Mimamsa and a confirmed ritualist...
}} and
PrabhākaraPrabhākara was an Indian philosopher grammarian in the Mimamsa tradition. His views and his debate with led to the Prābhākara school within Mimamsa.Commentaries on Prabhakara have been written by Shalikanatha in the 8th c....
.
The school for some time in the Early Middle Ages exerted near-dominant influence on learned Hindu thought, and is credited as a major force contributing to the
decline of Buddhism in IndiaThe decline of Buddhism in India, the land of its birth, occurred for a variety of reasons, and happened even as it continued to flourish beyond the frontiers of India. Buddhism was established in the area of ancient Magadha and Kosala by Gautama Buddha in the 6th century BCE, in what is now modern...
, but it has fallen into decline in the High Middle Ages and today is all but eclipsed by Vedanta.
Mimamsa texts
The foundational text for the Mimamsa school is the
Purva Mimamsa SutrasThe Mimamsa Sutra or the Purva Mimamsa Sutras , written by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy...
of Jaimini (ca. 3rd to 1st century BCE). A major commentary was composed by
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
in ca. the 5th or 6th century CE. The school reaches its height with
{{Hindu philosophy}}
{{IAST|Mīmāṃsā}} (मीमांसा), a SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word meaning "investigation" (compare Greek ἱστορία), is the name of an astika ("orthodox") school of
Hindu philosophyHindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
whose primary enquiry is into the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
based on close
hermeneutics of the
VedasThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
. The nature of dharma is not accessible to reason or observation, and must be inferred from the authority of the
revelationIn religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
contained in the Vedas, which are considered eternal, authorless (
apaurusheyatvaIn Hinduism, Apaurusheyatva , Sanskrit, "being unauthored", is used to describe the Vedas, the main scripture in Hinduism. This implies that the Vedas are not authored by any agency, be it human or divine...
), and infallible. The school of Mimamsa consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines and is not deeply considered in the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
, rather in the character of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
.
Mimamsa strongly concerned with textual
exegesisExegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
, and consequently gave rise to the study of
philologyPhilology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and the
philosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
. Its notion of shabda "speech" as indivisible unity of sound and meaning (signifier and signified) is due to Bhartrhari (7th century).
Terminology
Mimamsa is also known as {{IAST|
Pūrva Mīmāṃsā}} ("prior" inquiry, also {{IAST|
Karma-Mīmāṃsā}}), in contrast to {{IAST|
Uttara Mīmāṃsā}} ("posterior" inquiry, also {{IAST|
Brahma-Mīmāṃsā}}) is the opposing school of
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. This division is based on the notion of a
dichotomyA dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
of the Vedic texts into a
{{IAST|karmakāṇḍa}}, the department of the Veda treating of sacrificial rites (
SamhitaSamhita may refer to"*the basic metrical text of each of the Vedas**specifically, these texts with sandhi applied *post-Vedic texts known as Samhitas:** Ashtavakra Gita...
s and
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
s), and the
{{IAST|jñānakāṇḍa}} dealing with the knowledge of
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
(the Upanishads).
Tenets
The core tenets of {{IAST|
Pūrva Mīmāṃsā}} are
ritualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
ism (orthopraxy), anti-asceticism and anti-mysticism. The central aim of the school is elucidation of the nature of
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
, understood as a set ritual obligations and prerogatives to be performed properly.
Epistemology
In the field of
epistemology, later Mimāṃsākas made some notable contributions. Unlike the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
or the
VaisheshikaVaisheshika or ' is one of the six Hindu schools of philosophy of India. Historically, it has been closely associated with the Hindu school of logic, Nyaya....
systems, the {{IAST|Prābhākara}} school recognizes five
pramanas (means of valid knowledge) and the {{IAST|Bhāṭṭa}} school recognizes six. In addition to the four
pramanas (
pratyakṣa,
anumāna,
upamānaUpamana , in Hinduism, is a pramana, or means of having knowledge of something. Observance of similarities provides knowledge of the relationship between the two....
and
śabda) accepted by the Nyaya school, the {{IAST|Prābhākara}} school recognizes
arthāpatti (presumption) and the {{IAST|Bhāṭṭa}} school recognizes both
arthāpatti and
anuapalabdhi (non-apprehension) as the valid means of knowledge. A more interesting feature of the Mimāṃsā school of philosophy is its unique epistemological theory of the intrinsic validity of all cognition as such. It is held that all knowledge is ipso facto true (
Satahprāmāṇyavāda). Thus, what is to be proven is not the truth of a cognition, but its falsity. The Mimāṃsākas advocate the self-validity of knowledge both in respect of its origin (
utpatti) and ascertainment (
jñapti). Not only did the Mimāṃsākas make the very great use of this theory to establish the unchallengeable validity of the Vedas, but later Vedantists also drew freely upon this particular Mimāṃsā contribution.
Dharma
DharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
as understood by Poorva Mimāmsā can be loosely translated into English as "virtue", "morality" or "duty". The Poorva Mimāmsā school traces the source of the knowledge of dharma neither to sense-experience nor inference, but to verbal
cognitionIn science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
(i.e. knowledge of words and meanings) according to Vedas. In this respect it is related to the
Nyaya' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
school, the latter, however, allows less Prāmānas (proofs) than Poorva Mimāmsā.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}
The Poorva Mimāmsā school held
dharmaDharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
to be equivalent to following the prescriptions of the Samhitas and their
BrahmanaThe Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....
commentaries relating the correct performance of
Vedic ritualIn Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...
s. Seen in this light, Poorva Mimamsa is essentially ritualist (orthopraxy), placing great weight on the performance of
KarmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
or action as enjoined by the Vedas.
Atheism
Mimamsa' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...
theorists decided that the evidence allegedly proving the
existence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
was insufficient. They argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals. Mimamsa argues that the Gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the
mantraA mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of Gods.
Relation to Vedānta
Emphasis of Yajnic Karmakāndas in Poorva Mimāmsā is erroneously interpreted by some to be an opposition to Jnānakānda of Vedānta and Upanishadas. Poorva Mimāmsā does not discuss topics related to Jnānakānda, such as
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
or salvation, but it never speaks against
mokshaWithin Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...
. Vedānta quotes Jaimini's belief in Brahman as well as in moksha:
In Uttara-Mīmāmsā or Vedānta (4.4.5-7), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying (ब्राह्मेण जैमिनिरूपन्यासादिभ्यः) "
(The mukta Purusha is united with the Brahman) as if it were like the Brahman, because descriptions (in Shruti etc) prove so".
In Vedānta (1.2.28), Bādarāyana cites Jaimini as saying that "There is no contradiction in taking Vaishvānara as the supreme Brahman".
In 1.2.31, Jaimini is again quoted by Bādarāyana as saying that the nirguna (attribute-less) Brahman can manifest itself as having a form.
In 4.3.12, Bādarāyana again cites Jaimini as saying that the mukta Purusha attains Brahman.
In Poorva Mimāmsā too, Jaimini emphasises the importance of faith in and attachment to the Omnipotent Supreme Being Whom Jaimini calls "The Omnipotent Pradhaana" (The Main):
Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1: "sarvaśaktau pravṛttiḥ syāt tathābhūtopadeśāt" (सर्वशक्तौ प्रवृत्तिः स्यात् तथाभूतोपदेशात्). The term Upadesha here is means instructions of the Shāstras as taught. We should tend towards the Omnipotent Supreme Being. In the context of Poorva Mimāmsā 6.3.1 shown above, next two sutras becomes significant, in which this Omnipotent Being is termed as "Pradhāna", and keeping away from Him is said to be a "Dosha", hence all beings are asked to get related ("abhisambandhāt" in tadakarmaṇi ca doṣas tasmāt tato viśeṣaḥ syāt pradhānenābhisambandhāt; Jaimini 6, 3.3) to the "Omnipotent Main Being" (api vāpy ekadeśe syāt pradhāne hy arthanirvṛttir guṇamātram itarat tadarthatvāt; Jaimini 6, 3.2). Karma-Mīmāmsā supports the Vedas, and Rgveda says that one Truth is variously named by the sages. It is irrelevant whether we call Him as Pradhāna or Brahman or Vaishvānara or Shiva or God.
History
The school's origins lie in the scholarly traditions of the final centuries BCE, when the priestly ritualism of Vedic sacrifice was being marginalized by
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and
VedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
. To counteract this challenge, several groups emerged dedicated to demonstrating the validity of the Vedic texts by rigid formulation of rules for their interpretation. The school gathers momentum in the Gupta period with
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
, and reaches its apex in the 7th to 8th centuries with {{IAST|
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa' was a Hindu philosopher and Mimamsa scholar from Assam. He is famous for many of his seminal theses on Mimamsa, such as Mimamsaslokavarttika. Bhatta was an staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction, a great champion of Purva-Mimamsa and a confirmed ritualist...
}} and
PrabhākaraPrabhākara was an Indian philosopher grammarian in the Mimamsa tradition. His views and his debate with led to the Prābhākara school within Mimamsa.Commentaries on Prabhakara have been written by Shalikanatha in the 8th c....
.
The school for some time in the Early Middle Ages exerted near-dominant influence on learned Hindu thought, and is credited as a major force contributing to the
decline of Buddhism in IndiaThe decline of Buddhism in India, the land of its birth, occurred for a variety of reasons, and happened even as it continued to flourish beyond the frontiers of India. Buddhism was established in the area of ancient Magadha and Kosala by Gautama Buddha in the 6th century BCE, in what is now modern...
, but it has fallen into decline in the High Middle Ages and today is all but eclipsed by Vedanta.
Mimamsa texts
The foundational text for the Mimamsa school is the
Purva Mimamsa SutrasThe Mimamsa Sutra or the Purva Mimamsa Sutras , written by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy...
of Jaimini (ca. 3rd to 1st century BCE). A major commentary was composed by
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
in ca. the 5th or 6th century CE. The school reaches its height with
{{IAST' was a Hindu philosopher and Mimamsa scholar from Assam. He is famous for many of his seminal theses on Mimamsa, such as Mimamsaslokavarttika. Bhatta was an staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction, a great champion of Purva-Mimamsa and a confirmed ritualist...
and {{IAST|
PrabhākaraPrabhākara was an Indian philosopher grammarian in the Mimamsa tradition. His views and his debate with led to the Prābhākara school within Mimamsa.Commentaries on Prabhakara have been written by Shalikanatha in the 8th c....
}} (fl. ca. 700 CE). Both Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhākara (along with {{IAST|Murāri}}, whose work is no more extant) have written extensive commentaries on
ŚābaraSabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...
's Mimamsasutrabhāshyam.
Kumārila Bhatta, Mandana Misra, Parthasarathi Misra, Sucharita Misra, Ramakrishna Bhatta, Madhava Subhodini, Sankara Bhatta, Krsnayajvan, Anantadeva, Gaga Bhatta, Ragavendra Tirtha, VijayIndhra Tirtha, Appayya Dikshitar, Paruthiyur Krishna Sastri, Mahomahapadyaya Sri Ramsubba Sastri, Sri Venkatsubba Sastri, Sri A. Chinnaswami Sastri, Sengalipuram Vaidhyanatha Dikshitar were some of the Mimamsa Scholars.
The
{{IAST |Mīmāṁsā Sūtra}} of Jaimini (c. 3rd century BCE) has summed up the general rules of
{{IAST |nyāya}} for Vedic interpretation. The text has 12 chapters, of which the first chapter is of philosophical value. The commentaries on the
{{IAST |Mīmāṁsā Sūtra}} by {{IAST |Bhartṛmitra}}, {{IAST |Bhavadāsa}}, Hari and {{IAST|Upavarṣa}} are no more extant. {{IAST |Śabara}} (c. 1st century BCE) is the first commentator of the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā Sūtra}}, whose work is available to us. His
{{IAST |bhāṣya}} is the basis of all later works of
{{IAST |Mīmāṁsā }}. {{IAST |Kumārila Bhaṭṭa}} (7th century CE), the founder of the first school of the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}} commented on both the
{{IAST|Sūtra}} and its
{{IAST |Śabara Bhāṣya}}. His treatise consists of 3 parts, the
{{IAST|Ślokavārttika}}, the
{{IAST |Tantravārttika}} and the
{{IAST |Ṭupṭīkā}}. {{IAST|Manḍana Miśra}} (8th century CE) was a follower of {{IAST |Kumārila}}, who wrote
Vidhiviveka and
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsānukramaṇī}}. There are several commentaries on the works of {{IAST|Kumārila}}. {{IAST|Sucarita Miśra}} wrote a
{{IAST|Kāśikā}} (commentary) on the
{{IAST|Ślokavārttika}}. {{IAST|Someśvara Bhatta}} wrote
{{IAST|Nyāyasudhā}}, also known as
{{IAST|Rāṇaka}}, a commentary on the
{{IAST |Tantravārttika}}. {{IAST|Pārthasarathi Miśra}} wrote
{{IAST|Nyāyaratnākara}} (1300 CE), another commentary on the
{{IAST|Ślokavārttika}}. He also wrote
{{IAST |Śāstradīpikā}}, an independent work on the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}} and
Tantraratna. {{IAST|Venkaṭa Dīkṣita}}’s
{{IAST|Vārttikabharaṇya}} is a commentary on the
{{IAST |Ṭupṭīkā}}. {{IAST |Prabhākara}} (8th century CE), the originator of the second school of the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}} wrote his commentary
{{IAST|Bṛhatī}} on the
{{IAST |Śabara Bhāṣya}}. {{IAST |Śālikanātha}}’s
{{IAST |Ṛjuvimalā}} (9th century CE) is a commentary on the
{{IAST|Bṛhatī}}. His
{{IAST |Prakaraṇapañcikā}} is an independent work of this school and the
{{IAST |Pariśiṣṭa}} is a brief explanation of the
{{IAST |Śabara Bhāṣya}}. {{IAST |Bhavanātha}}’s
{{IAST|Nyāyaviveka}} deals with the views of this school in details. The founder of the third school of the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}} was {{IAST|Murāri}}, whose works have not reached us.
{{IAST|Āpadeva}} (17th century) wrote an elementary work on the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}}, known as
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsānyāyaprakaśa}} or
{{IAST|Āpadevī}}.
{{IAST |Arthasaṁgraha}} of {{IAST |Laugākṣi Bhāskara}} is based on the
{{IAST|Āpadevī}}. {{IAST|Vedānta Deśika}}’s
{{IAST |Śeśvara Mīmāṁsā}} was an attempt to combine the views of the
{{IAST|Mīmāṁsā}} and the
{{IAST|Vedānta}} schools.
Further reading
Reprint edition; Originally published under the title of
The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy.
- R.A. Ramaswami Shastri, A Short History Of The Purva Mimamsa Shastra, Annamalai University Sanskrit Series No. 3 (1936).
Bollingen Series XXVI; Edited by
Joseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
.
External links
{{Indian Philosophy}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mimamsa}}