Mimamsa and Vedanta Interaction and Continuity

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From the Jacket

The second half of the first millennium witnessed various important developments in Indian thought. Among these, the increasingly active participation in philosophical debates of those who maintained that everything worth knowing is found in the Veda is particularly striking. Vedanta established itself as an independent school of thought during this period, ready to defend its positions against other schools, whether Brahmanical or non-Brahmanical. More or less simultaneously, Mimamsa underwent important modifications which brought it closer to certain Vedanta positions. Interestingly, both the most important representatives of Vedanta (Sankara and others) and the Mimamsakas with "Vedantic" inclinations (Kumarila Bhatta is a prominent example) claimed that they faithfully applied the rules of interpretation that were characteristic of Mimamsa. They were all Mimamsakas in a certain way. They did not however agree with each other. They differed on fundamental points, such as the role of, and need for ritual activity to reach the ultimate goal, liberation. This volume explores some of these developments.

Johannes Bronkhorst is Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He has published widely in various fields, most notably Indian linguistics, and Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina thought. He is the editor of Brill's Indological Library and of Handbook of Oriental Studies, section Indian (Brill, Leiden), and regional editor of Asiatische Studien Etudes Asiatiques.

Petteri Koskikallio and Asko Parpola, Secretary General and President, respectively, of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, are Finnish Indologists. Asko Parpola is Professor Emeritus of South Asian and Indo-European Studies at the University of Helsinki.

Preface

The second half of the first millennium witnessed various important developments in Indian thought. Among these, the increasingly active participation in philosophical debates of those who maintained that everything worth knowing is found in the Veda is particularly striking. Vedanta established itself as an independent school of thought during this period, ready to defend its positions against other schools, whether Brahmanical or non-Brahmanical. More or less simultaneously, Mimamsa underwent important modifications which brought it closer to certain Vedanta positions.

Interestingly, both the most important representatives of Vedanta (Sankara and others) and the Mimamsakas with "Vedantic" inclinations (Kumarila Bhatta is a prominent example) claimed that they faithfully applied the rules of interpretation that were characteristic of Mimamsa. They were all Mimamsakas in a certain way. They did not however agree with each other. They differed on fundamental points, such as the role of, and need for ritual activity to reach the ultimate goal, liberation.

A panel of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference in Helsinki was dedicated to the transitions just described. This volume is the outcome of this panel. Its participants concentrated, inevitably, on a limited number of key figures from that period, with particular emphasis on Kumarila Bhatta. The contributions by John Taber and Kiyotaka Yoshimizu contribute valuable new insights to the understanding of this voluminous and sometimes difficult author. Other thinkers of the period are not neglected, however. Marcus Schmucker, J. M. Verpoorten and Johannes Bronkhorst deal with early Vedanta thinkers in their relationship with ritual Mimamsa. Walter Slaje, finally, analyses the role which the Vedic seer Yajnavalkya may have played in developing Mimamsa and Vedanta thought.

A word of thinker to the organizers of the 12th World Sanskrit conference may here be added. They have created a unique opportunity to compare notes to a number of scholars who had not so far collaborated, and seen to it that the results be published. thanks are also due to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for having supported the conference.

The sequence of the articles in this volume follows the alphabetical order of the names of their authors.