Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s5.13

c6.s5.13

The Sūtra texts are structured as quintessential of several prolonged discourses and discussions in search of certain specific queries. The word *jijñāsā* (inquiry) occurring in the very first aphorism of *Brahmasūtra* and *Mīmāṁsāsūtra* is suggestive of inherent questions and discussions. Jaimini used another term *parīṣṭi* (investigation) for a critical examination of diverse views on any issue.⁸⁵ In its prescriptive and descriptive forms, the Mīmāṁsā system appears to be least concerned with issues for debate. But even as a Sūtra text, it searches for the solutions of certain fundamental questions, whether *vidhi*, *arthavāda*, *mantra* and *nāmadheya* are *pramāṇas* or not in the first chapter of the *Mīmāṁsāsūtra*.