History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.230

v7.c93.230

Having established that Veda is eternal and self-existent the Mīmāṁsakas give free rein to their ingenuity, powers of reasoning and logic. They have a logic of their own which governed not only the interpretation of Vedic passages but also of the Smṛtis and the medieval works on Dharmaśāstra (including law and procedure). As Colebrooke, one of the most accurate and level-headed of Western scholars of Sanskrit, said more than 130 years ago 'the disquisitions on the mīmāṁsā bear therefore a certain resemblance to juridical questions; and in fact, the Hindu law being blended with the religion of the people, the same modes of reasoning are applicable and are applied to the one as to the other. The logic of the Mimansa is the logic of the law; the rule of interpretation of civil and religious ordinances. Each case is examined and determined upon and from the cases decided the principles may be collected. A well-ordered arrangement of them would constitute the philosophy of law and this is in truth what has been attempted in the Mimansa' (Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I. pp. 316-317, Madras ed. of 1837).