Karma Mimansa

Author(s): Berriedale Keith
Publisher: Berriedale Keith

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THE KARMA-MIMĀMSÃ
Mantras were recorded in long paragraphs, with no obvious mechanical dividing marks. These principles are that of syntactical unity (ekavākyata); those words must be taken together which, when so united, form a single idea, or, as Prabhākara puts it, to suit his theory of injunction, express a single purpose, and which, taken apart, are not expressive of any idea or purpose. Secondly, there is admitted the principle of syntactical split (vákyabheda), which permits us to break up what else might be taken as a single sentence into parts, each of which must contain a single idea. But this expedient is permissible only when there is a clear Vedic injunction to make the spht, or when no other construction is really possible, for otherwise the error is committed of multiplying Apūrvas resulting from Mantras. None the less it is a necessary procedure in cases where it is made clear in any way that there are distinct acts to be accompanied by Mantras; "Pleasant I make this seat for thee; sit upon it" (T.B. III, 7, 5, 2) would prima facie be one Mantra, but, as it is intended to serve the double purpose of accompanying the act of making the seat for the cake, and setting it down, it must be taken as two. Thirdly, there is the principle of extension (anuşanga), which denotes that it is often necessary in the case of Mantras to supply with several sets of words a clause which follows the last of these sets only, and which might thus be deemed to belong to it alone.
Authority, however, is not confined to the Vedic Samhitās and the Bräbmanas. It is extended to the Smstis, in which term Kumārilat includes primarily the Itihāsas, Puranas, and the Sirti of Manu, these being 'works which claim universal application. The Itihasas and Purānas he deems to contain injunctions based on Vedic authority and much Arthavāda, but he adnuts that there are also injunctions arising from mere worldly considerations, passages useful only to give pleasure, and other extraneous matter; the hymns to deities serve to secure a transcendental result. They serve as wholes the useful purpose of instricting men
1 Tantravārktika, trans. pp. 25, 112 ff, 244. The Sūtra (1, 3, 1-7, 11-14) never mentions the word Smšti and the commentators differ widely in their versions.