History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.4

v7.c93.4

The word mīmāṁsā has a great antiquity behind it. The Tai. S. VII. 5. 7. 1¹⁸⁶⁹ says 'the expounders of Brahma (Veda) discuss (the question) whether a day should be omitted or not'. Here the verbal form 'mīmāṁsante' is employed in the sense of discussing or investigating a doubtful point and arriving at a decision thereon. In another passage of the Tai. S. the same form and another ‘mīmāṁseran’ are used in the same sense. In several other places the Tai. S. raises points for discussion with the words ‘the brahmavādins discuss’ but without employing the word mīmāṁsante or a cognate word. *Vide* Tai. S. II. 5. 3. 7 (about the deity of *sānnāyya*), V. 5. 3. 2, VI. 1. 4. 5., VI. 1. 5. 3–5. The Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā¹⁸⁷⁰ puts forward a doubtful point for investigation without the words ‘Brahmavādins say’, but with the word ‘mīmāṁsante’. The Atharvaveda¹⁸⁷¹ states ‘men separately discussing many times noted on the earth her actions’. In another place it employs the words *mīmāṁsita* and *mīmāṁsamāna*. The Śāṅkhāyana¹⁸⁷² Br. has ‘they discuss the question whether one should offer homa after the sun rises or before the sun rises’. The Tai. Br. employs the word mīmāṁsā and the Śatapatha also in the Kāṇva recension does so (*vide* S. B. E. vol. 26 note 1). In the Chāndogyopaniṣad¹⁸⁷³ it is stated that five scholars very learned in the Veda and possessed of large houses (wealth) named Prācīnaśāla Aupamanyava and others got together and entered upon the consideration of the question ‘what is (the nature of) our self and what is Brahma?’. In the Tai. Up. occur the words ‘this is the investigation into (the nature of) Bliss (Brahma)’. In both these passages the word mīmāṁsā is used in the sense of ‘consideration’ (*vicāranā*) of high philosophical topics.’