We have noticed in the General Introduction that the Purva Mimamsa School or the Mimamsa School, as it is more usually called, is the outcome of the ritualistic side of the Vedic culture just as the Vedanta (sometimes also called the Uttar Mimamsa) is the development of its speculative side.
The object of the Mimamsa School is to help and support ritualism chiefly in two ways, namely,
(a) By giving a methodology of interptetation with the help of which the complicated Vedic injunctions regarding rituals may be understood, harmonised and followed without difficulty, and,
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(b) By supplying a philosophical justification of the beliefs on which ritualism depends. We are concerned here with the second or the philosophical aspect of the Mimamsa.
The faith underlying Vedic ritualism consists of different elements such as belief in the existence of a soul which survive death and enjoys the fruits of rituals in heaven, the belief in some power or potency which preserves the effects of the ritual performed.
The belief in the infallibility of the Vedas on which rituals stand the belief that the world is real and our life ctions performed here are not mere dreams. The Buddhists, Carvakas challenge the authority of the Vedas.
The reality of the world and the existence of the soul are denied by sonic Buddhists. Some Upanisads disparage the idea that ‘heaven’ is the goal of man and rituals are the best possible human activities. The Mimamsa tries to meet all such cridcisms and upholds the original faith underlying ritualism.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Jaimini’s Sutra, in twelve elaborate chapters, laid the foundation of the Purva Mimamsa. Sabarasvamf wrote the major commentary or Bhasya on this work. He is followed by a long line of commentators and independent writers.
The two most important among them are Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara (nicknamed ‘Guru’), who founded the two schools of Mimamsa named after them, and thus the Mimamsa philosophy gradually developed.
Etymologically, the word Mimamsa means ‘solution of some problem by reflection and critical examination.’ As its subject-matter was karma or rituals, the Mimarhsa is also somedmes called Karma or Dharma Mimarhsa.
The philosophy of the Mimarhsa School may be conveniently discussed under three heads, namely, Theory of Knowledge, Metaphysics, and Ethics and Theology.