Purvamimamsa from an Interdisciplinary Point of View

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From the Jacket:

The volumes of the PROJECT ON THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE IN INDIAN CIVILIZATION aims at discovering the main aspects of India's heritage and present them in an interrelated way. These volumes, in spite of their unitary look, recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The Project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. In fact, contributions are made by different scholars with different ideological persuasions and methodological approaches. The Project is marked by what may be called 'methodological pluralism'. In spite of its primarily historical character, this Project, both in its conceptualisation and execution, has been shaped by scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization like India.

Purvamimamsa is one of the six systems of Indian philosophy and a very ancient one. The Jaimini Sutras consisting of 2700 sutras arranged in 12 chapters are the primary source of Purvamimamsa. It is developed into two schools, Bhatta school initiated by Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara school initiated by Prabhakara. Mimamsa has made rich contribution to the areas of epistemology, linguistics and programme organization. The concept of the intrinsic validity of cognition including the impersonal nature of the Veda and acceptance of the cognition of certain entities such as ethical values beyond the empirical means of cognition, are its contribution to epistemology. Considering the language as autonomous at word, sentence and discourse levels and developing a distinct hermeneutics to interpret the Vedic passages and developing the rules of interpretation, are its contribution to linguistics. Developing detailed guidelines for organizing the ritual programme is, however, its most important contribution. The rules of interpretation evolved by Purvamimamsa for the purpose of interpreting Vedic passages are so fundamental and universal that these can be applied to interpret any other scripture. These are utilized by other Indian philosophical systems, Dharmasastras and ancient Indian judicial system. Maxwells' rules of interpretation closely resemble Purvamimamsa rules. The guidelines laid down for ritual organization are also very systematic and could be applied to any other programme organization. These aspects of Purvamimamsa are highlighted in this volume.

About the Author:

D.P. CHATTOPADHYAYA, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D. (Calcutta and London School of Economics), D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) studied, researched Law, Philosophy and History and taught at various Universities in India, Asia, Europe and USA from 1954 to 1994. Founder-Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1981-1990) and President-cum-Chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1984-1991), Chattopadhyaya is currently the Project Director of the multidisciplinary 96-Vol. Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture (PHISPC) and Chairman of the Centre for Studies in Civilizations(CSC). Among his 34 publications, authored 17 and edited 17, are Individuals and Societies (1967), Individuals and Worlds (1976), Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx (1988), Anthropology and Historiography of Science (1990), Induction, Probability and Skepticism (1991), Sociology, Ideology and Utopia (1997), Societies, Cultures and Ideologies (2000), Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Society, Value and Civilizational Dialogue (2002) and Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology and Other Essays (2003). Besides, he has held high public offices like Union Cabinet Ministership and State Governorship.

KRISHNACHARYA TAMMANACHARYA PANDURANGI belongs to a family of traditional scholars who have made distinct contribution to Dvaita Vedanta of Sri Anandatirtha (Madhvachrya) of Udupi. He taught at Karnataka College, Dharwad and Government College, Bangalore for more than two decades an later retired as the Head of the Post Graduate Department of Sanskrit in Bangalore University. He was a former Member of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and Central Sanskrit Board. He was a Senior Fellow of Indian Council of Philosophical Research. Presently, he is Upakulapathi of Poornaprajna Vidyapeetha and Hon. Director or Dvaita Vedanta Foundation at Bangalore. He received Rashtrapati Award in 1989, Mahamahoadhyaya title in 1997 from Tirupati Sanskrit University and Sir William Jones Memorial Medal in 2005 from The Asiatic Society, Kolkata. His publications include English Exposition of Prakaranapancika of Salikanatha and some literary works such as Kavyanjali, Ravindra Rupakani and Sanskrit Kavi Kavya Darsana. He has translated principal Upanisads into English according to Sri Anandatirtha Bhasya and also Visnutatvanirnaya of Sri Anandatirtha.