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A note on Śabara's India
Shripad Bhat
In the development of Indian philosophy, through the ages, the Pūrvamīmāṁsā system plays an important role. The object of the Mimāṁsā seems to have been Vedārthavicāra' or the investigation into the interpretation of the Vedas. In order to understand the Vedas, Jaimini sūtras serve as an important tool of interpretation. The sūtras of Jaimini were interpreted by some Bhāsyakāras, such as Bodhāyana, Bhavadāsa Upavarsa, and so on. Among them Sabara became very popular, whose work is known as Śabarabhāsya, which, in fact, formed the basis and starting point for all later Mimāṁsā works.
In this work of Sabara, along with Dharmamimāṁsā, we find a number of geographical, social and cultural references which were subjected to a critical analysis as being reliable sources of Dharma. Besides Vedic texts, Smrti and Sadācāra also got importance as the sources of Dharma. Sabara asserts the significance of the influence of Smrti texts, popular customs, rights of women etc. which are closely related and have become familiar in the life of ordinary people. He shows that there was a unity of language and culture from the Himālayas to Capecomorin.
An effort has been made in the present work to being into limelight the geographical, social, and cultural facts as reflected in the Sabarabhāsya.
Date of Sabara-To fix the date of Sabara, a number of attempts have already been made. A. B. Keith concludes that 400. A. D. is the earliest date of Sabara!. According to P. V. Kane, the date of Śabara is not earlier than 100 A. D. and not later than 500 A. D2. G. N. Jha assigns him as a senior contemporary of the great Vikramāditya' the founder of the 'samvat' era and therefore believed as having lived in 57 B. C. He quotes a verse which
