Mimamsa

A school centered on the interpretation of Vedic ritual injunctions, holding scripture to carry authority independent of any author, human or divine.

scholarship. Modern scholarship — academic/historical analysis.
Tradition: hinduism Period: vedic-period Theme: ritual Theme: scripture Theme: hermeneutics Theme: dharma

Mimamsa — more fully, Purva Mimamsa, "prior inquiry" — is a school devoted to the careful interpretation of Vedic ritual injunctions, and to a striking claim about the nature of scriptural authority that sets it apart from most other traditions treated in this archive.

Scripture without an author

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Sources & further reading

Related in the archive

Text

The Rigveda

The oldest layer of Vedic literature — a large collection of hymns preserved orally for centuries before being written down.

Concept

Dharma

A cluster of ideas around duty, order, and right conduct that is understood differently across Indian traditions.

Concept

Rita

An early Vedic term for cosmic order — the deep regularity of nature and truth that later concepts of dharma partly inherit.

Period

The Vedic Period

A long, debated era associated with the composition and transmission of the earliest layers of Vedic literature.

Tradition

Vedanta

A family of interpretive schools centered on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.

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Next → Charvaka A materialist school rejecting karma, rebirth, and any authority beyond direct perception, known to us almost entirely through the hostile summaries of its philosophical opponents.