Karma Mimansa

Author(s): Berriedale Keith
Publisher: Berriedale Keith

Page 14

• DEVELOPMENT AND LITERARY HISTORY 5
ship of a Srauta and a Grhya Sūtra, and the name occur. in lists of doubtful authenticity in the Ašvalāyana and Sankhāyana Gyhya Sūtras; a Jaiminiya Sarirhita and a Jaiminiya Brāhmanz of the Sama Veda are extant. As an authority on philosophy Jaimini appears in the Vedānta Sutra and often in later works, but it is significant that, while it is possible that the Mahabharata recognises the existence of the Mimāmsă it does not refer to Jaimini as & philosopher, but merely as an ancient sage.” Neither Buddhist or sain literature throws light on bis personality or date, and the period of the Sūtra can be determined, therefore, merely on grounds of comparison of its contents with those of other works.
It is probable that the Mimämsä Sutra is the earliest of the six Darśanas preserved to us. The Yoga Sutra is not an early work; it seems to recognise the Vijñanavāda school of Buddhism, which, in all probability, belongs to the fourth century A.D., and the popular identification of Patañjali with the author of the Mahābhäsya is clearly untenable. The lateness of the Sankhya Sutra is admitted, and the theory that its contents include early matter has been controverted. The Veiseşika Sūtra has no point of contact with the Mimamsā such as would render any conclusion possible, but the Nviva Sutra (II, 1, 61) is familiar with the Mimărsă terminology, and it is improbable that, had the Nyāya existed before the Mimarsi Satra took form, it would have been ignored by tbe latter as it is. The relation to the Vedānta Sutra is less clear; the mention of Jaimini and Bådarāyaṇa in both texts affords some ground for the view that the two works were simultaneously redacted, but this conclusion is by no means assured. We have no valid reason for assuming that the Sūtras were actually redacted by Jaimini and Badarāyana themselves,
1 His death, caused by an elephant, is recorded in Parcatantra II, 34, but not in the Tontrālhyayika. The name is strange, but 19 Ignored in Panini and the Mahabhäsya, which, however, knows of Mimāmsakas, probably adherents of this school (Indischic Studien, XIII, 455, 466).
Hopkins, Great Epic of India, p. 97. 4 Samkhya Systen, pp. 56, 57.