History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.429

v7.c93.429

The Mīmāṁsā principles and rules of interpretation fall into several groups. There are rules that are concerned only with the details of Vedic sacrifices and their inter-relations. The most important rule in this field is this that only *Vidhis* properly so called have absolute authority and binding force, while what are called *arthavādas* have authority in so far only as they form one syntactical whole with the vidhis and as they are meant to praise the vidhis. (P. M. S I. 2. 7) Vidhis and Arthavādas are not discussed consecutively, but they are scattered over the several chapters of the P. M S. For example, arthavādas are first dealt with in I. 2. 1-18 (the arthavādādhikaraṇa), but in many other places there is a discussion about arthavādas as in III. 4 1-9, III 4. 10, III 4. 11, IV. 3. 1-3, VI. 7. 26-30, X. 8. 5, X. 8. 7 and 8.