A History of Sanskrit Literature c18.29

c18.29

In contrast with the two older and intimately connected dualistic schools of the Sāṅkhya and Yoga, there arose about the beginning of our era the only two, even of the six orthodox systems of philosophy, which were theistic from the outset. One of them, being based on the Vedas and the Brāhmaṇas, is concerned with the practical side of Vedic religion; while the other, alone among the philosophical systems, represents a methodical development of the fundamental non-dualistic speculations of the Upanishads. The former, which has only been accounted a philosophical system at all because of its close connection with the latter, is the *Pūrva-mīmāṃsā* or "First Inquiry," also called *Karma-mīmāṃsā* or "Inquiry concerning Works," but usually simply *Mīmāṃsā*. Founded by JAIMINI, and set forth in the *Karma-mīmāṃsā Sūtras*, this system discusses the sacred ceremonies and the rewards resulting from their performance. Holding the Veda to be uncreated and existent from all eternity, it lays special stress on the proposition that articulate sounds are eternal, and on the consequent doctrine that the connection of a word with its sense is not due to convention, but is by nature inherent in the word itself. Owing to its lack of philosophical interest, this system has not as yet much occupied the attention of European scholars.