Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.1168

c9.1168

A: Meeting with Kumārilabhaṭṭa. Śaṅkara's object was to expose the defects and draw-backs in Pūrvamīmāṃsā (the ritual part of the Vedas). Kumārilabhaṭṭa was the most competent person for a discussion on the subject. Śaṅkara, for this purpose, went to Prayāga from Kāśī. But, Kumārilabhaṭṭa was not in a condition fit for discussion. He was slowly burning himself to death in a heap of paddy husk set on fire. He courted this punishment voluntarily to atone for a wrong he had committed. Years back he had put on Buddhistic attire and studied the secrets of Buddhistic religion from its preceptors with the object of refuting that religion. Kumārilabhaṭṭa had great faith in Karmakāṇḍa, and he therefore, decided that it was his duty to make atonement for the wrong he had purposely done according to injunctions laid down in Karmakāṇḍa. Śaṅkara was very sorry to find Kumārilabhaṭṭa in this condition in which discussion could not be held with him on the defects of Pūrvamīmāṃsā. Kumārilabhaṭṭa directed Śaṅkara to the great scholar, Maṇḍanamiśra at Māhiṣmatī for a discussion on Pūrvamīmāṃsā.