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14. JAINA CRITICISM OF VEDIC SACRIFICES
389
that “The Veda is the work of a certain person like the Sūtras of Manu' etc. The fact of the Veda having an author does not, however, give it an authoritative character. Anantavirya declares: “We do not deny authority to the Veda on the ground that it has no author. The Veda lacks authority because it can never be free from defects owing to its expounders having no knowledge of supersensuous things”. The Jainas thus close the door, to their own satisfaction, upon all claims that may be put forward in behalf of the Veda being an authoritative source of human knowledge.
It is extremely doubtful if Jaina attacks on the Veda and the Vedic religion made any impression upon Brahmanical circles if they were at all acquainted with them. The regeneration of the Vedic sacrificial system was out of the question, but renewed and vigorous attempts cotninued to be made to eastablish the authority of the Veda on a firmer and sounder basis. The first great effort towards this end in medieval times was made by Kumārila (seventh century A. D.) and the school of Mīmāṁsā founded by him and thereafter by the distinguished writers of the Nyāya-Vaišeşika school who flourished in the ninth and tenth centuries. It was the leaders of the latter school that exercised paramount influence in the intellectual sphere in Somadeva's age. The Naiyāyikas rejected the Mimāṁsā view that the Veda was eternal, and not composed by any individual, and sought to replace the apauruşeya theory by a more plausible doctrine. Jayanta says in his Nyāyamañjari that the Mimāṁsakas are incapable of devising an adequate method for maintaining the authority of the Veda: words aided by convention can only have the power to signify; the determination of the shades of meaning must inevitably depend upon the judgment of some one; hence words can have any authoritative character only when they are uttered by a trustworthy person and not otherwise. The Naiyāyikas thus usher in the pauruşeya theory and glorify the Veda as the handiwork of God Himself. Jayanta, for instance, says that He who created the universe composed also the Vedas containing His teachings; and the people believe in the Vedas because they believe in Him, the Trustworthy Guide and the Supreme Lord without a beginning: no wise
1 'नास्माभिर्वक्तुरभावे वेदस्य प्रामाण्याभावः समुद्भाव्यते किन्तु तव्याख्यावृणाम् अतीन्द्रियार्थदर्शनादिगुणाभावे ततो
दोषाणामनपोहितत्वात् न प्रामाण्यनिश्चय इति ।' 2 a thica: 474T FIVETTATHI APOTHES FTST:' ete. Nyāyamañjari, Book I.
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