History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.223

v7.c93.223

The doctrines of the early and principal writers on Pūrva-mīmāṁsā are rather quaint and startling. Their arguments about the eternality and self-existence of the Veda are fallacious and were not accepted even by other ancient Indian systems. Both Prabhākara and Kumārila have in their scheme no place for God as the dispenser of rewards or as the ruler of man's destiny, as being pleased with men's prayers. They do not expressly deny the existence of God, but they assign to God or the deities mentioned in the Vedic texts a secondary role or rather practically no role at all. They raise yajña to the position of God and their dogmas about yajña seem to be based upon a sort of commercial or business-like system,¹⁹⁷⁵ viz. one should do so many acts, dispense gifts to priests, offer certain offerings, observe certain ethical rules, and other rules of conduct (such as not eating flesh, subsisting on milk)¹⁹⁷⁶ and then the reward would follow without the intervention of God. There is hardly any appeal to religious emotions, there is no omniscient Being, no Creator and no creation of the world. The Pūrvamīmāṁsā no doubt lays emphasis on (the rights and) duties of man in life. The other darśanas are far more concerned with the question of escaping permanently from the world and with man's destiny after death. The P M. S, Śabara and Kumārila, however, make substantial contributions to the exegesis of Vedic texts. There are about three thousand quotations in Śabara's bhāṣya, out of which several hundred have not been yet identified. At least one thousand of these are taken from the Tai. S. and Br. About twelve adhikaraṇas are concerned with the Adhrigupraiṣa (a long formula) which is quoted in H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 1121 note 2504. Some adhikaraṇas are devoted to the explanation of certain words in that praiṣa e. g. PMS IX. 4. 22 explains urūka as 'vapā', IX. 4. 23-24 explain 'praśasā', IX. 4. 25-27 explain five words (śyena, śalā, kaśyapa, kavasa, srekaparṇa). Similarly, X. 1. 32 explains the word *bṛsaya* as meaning 'bṛhat.' Śabara's and Kumārila's stands on the individual soul and mokṣa confer on the P. M. system some status as a philosophical one. For a systematic and exhaustive study of Śabara's contribution to Vedic and post-vedic exegesis, vide Dr. S. V. Garge's citations in Śābara-bhāṣya' pp. 140-213 (Poona, 1952).