Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.16

c5.16

A *śāstra* (an authoritative documentation of the theory and practice of any knowledge system) is normally written in the style of debate, discussion and dialogue. There is an imaginary interlocutor, raising objections, demanding clarifications and asking questions. A debate within the mind of the author constantly goes on during the course of the creation of a treatise. A section of a *śāstra* is termed as *adhikaraṇa* or *adhikāra*. Jaimini’s *Mīmāṁsāsūtra* is the first authentic text on the Mīmāṁsā philosophy. The sections of *Mīmāṁsāsūtra* are called *adhikaraṇas* and each *adhikaraṇa* has a fivefold structure involving — *viṣaya* (theme), *saṁśaya* (doubt), *pūrva-pakṣa* (the prima facie view), *uttara-pakṣa* (the rejoinder) and *nirṇaya* (conclusion).⁷ It is true that Mīmāṁsā comprises an exegesis of Vedic rituals. Paul Deussen rightly says that Jaimini’s text is “a methodical handbook treating the various questions arising out of the complicated Vedic ritual”.⁸ But it is also true that Jaimini has designed his aphorisms to form a text in debate and he was able to create a powerful discourse for debate. Veṅkaṭādhvarin in his *Viśvaguṇādarśacampū* (564) goes to the extent of saying that the proponents of all other Śāstras suffer debacles when a battle of debate is carried out by Jaimini’s disciples.