Purva-Mimamsa in its Sources c28.2

c28.2

Difference among Acts having been established, the next question that arises is—Is every one of these Acts self-contained and independent by itself in bringing about the *Apūrva*? Or some of them are auxiliary or subsidiary and subordinate to, and subserving the purposes of, some others? And if the latter, then what Acts are subsidiary and subservient to what? Though this ‘subserviency of Acts’ is the main subject-matter of this *Third Discourse*, yet as we proceed we shall find that it is not only *Acts* that are so ‘subservient’ or ‘auxiliary’, but also *Substances* and their *Properties*. This fact has to be borne in mind, because, as a matter of fact, the whole of the rest of the *Sūtras* (Discourses IV to XII) turn directly or indirectly, upon this relation of ‘Principal’ and ‘Auxiliary’. This has been thus declared by *Kumārila* (*Tantra-Vā.*, Trs., p. 924):—