A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s1.29

c19.s1.29

The popularity of Pūrva-Mīmāmsā studies in the South is indicated by a number of inscriptions recording endowments—particularly in favour of the school of Prabhākara, who was the pupil as well as the rival of the great Kumārila, the founder of these studies in this part of the country. Kumārila is generally regarded as an Andhra by birth and an elder contemporary of Śaṅkarācārya (eighth century); his main works are *Ślokavārttika*, *Tantravārttika*, and *Ṭuṭīkā* which together form a complete commentary on the classic *Bhāshya* of Śabarasvāmin on the *Mīmāmsā sūtras* of Jaimini. Prabhākara (a native of North Travancore according to tradition) also wrote two commentaries on Śabara’s *Bhāshya*, a short *Laghvī* or *Vivaraṇa*, no longer extant, and a more extensive *Brihatī* or *Nibandhana* which has survived in part and gives unmistakable evidence of the author's originality and dialectical skill. Mandana Miśra, another elder contemporary of Śankara, discussed two fundamental topics of Mimāmsā in his *Vidhiviveka* and *Bhāvanāviveka*. The *Bhāshyadīpa* of Kshirasāgaramiśra (eleventh century) is another commentary on Śabara written from the standpoint of Prabhākara; the same writer also composed a tract called *Arthavādādivicāra*. Varadarāja expounded in the *Nayavivekadīpikā* the tenets of the same school in the twelfth century. The volume of Mimāmsā literature that developed in South India is very great and cannot be reviewed here in its entirety. Only the names of the most important authors and their works can be noted. They are: Someśvara's *Nyāyasudhā* (c. 1200), an elaborate commentary on Kumārila's *Tantravārttika*; another commentary on the same work—the *Nyāyapārāyaṇa* (mid-thirteenth century) of Gangādhara-miśra; the *Mimāmsāpādukā* and *Śeśvaramīmāmsā* of Vedānta Deśika, who sought to synthesize the views of the two rival schools; the *Nyāyamālā* and its *vistara* by Sāyaṇa's brother Mādhava (fourteenth century), an abstract in verse and an explanation in prose on the subject-matter of each section of Śabara's *Bhāshya*; a number of tracts on Mimāmsā by Appaya Dikshita such as *Vidhirasāyana*, *Upakramaparākrama* and *Vādanakshatramālā* besides his *Mayūkhāvalī* a commentary on the *Śāstradīpikā*, a classic exposition of the Kumārila school by Pārthasārathi Miśra.