Purva-Mimamsa in its Sources c38.2

c38.2

The *Mimamsa-Sutra* has evolved a set of principles for the interpretation of texts. It has based its Discussions on texts dealing with the details of sacrificial ritual; and the reason for this lay in the fact that at the time that the *Sutra* was written, and the principles of *Mimamsa* systematised, the performance of elaborate Sacrifices was a familiar occurrence in the life of the ordinary Hindu. At a later age, when these Sacrifices fell into desuetude the study of the *Mimamsa* was found difficult, and it fell in the popular estimation. But before long it was discovered that though the illustrations chosen in *Mimamsa* Literature, showing the application of the Principles of Interpretation, may not appeal to the learner, yet the Principles were as useful as ever, in other fields, wherever original texts had to be studied and their exact signification discussed. This was specially so in the domain of Law. This branch of study had to deal with a large number of original texts, from the Vedas and from the *Smrtis*; and the range of this study therefore extended from the Vedas down to the most recent *Smrti*-compilations; and as there were some discrepancies in these texts bearing on many points in regard to the practices of men, the only reasonable basis for the explaining away of these discrepancies lay in the Principles of Interpretation that had been worked out by the *Mimamsaka* in connection with Vedic texts bearing upon the details of Sacrificial ritual. We accordingly find all writers of Legal Digests making free use of these Principles of Interpretation.