[Advaita-l] Purva Mimamsa Sutra Bhashya

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 4 Jun 2003, venkata  subramanian wrote:

>
> Dear All,
>
> Could anyone of you clarify as to - is it necessary that one
> should go through the Purva Mimamsa Sutra Bhashya of Bhagavan
> Shabaracharya ( may be in the English Translation by Sri Ganganath
> Jha) to have a better understanding of the Prasthana Treya Bhashya
> ?!
>
>   of course, there are many things common like Pramana Lakshana
> etc.  but, still, practically, have anyone who has studied them,
> felt a better understanding of the latter, by reading the former
> ?!!
>

Yes definitely.  There are quite a few places in the Prasthanas where
Mimamsaka doctrines are adopted or diverged from.  Also it is
interesting to not how many Mimamsakas have also been Advaitins.

Jaimini is the author of the Mimamsasutras.  He is also mentioned in the
Brahmasutras (and Badarayana or Veda Vyasa is mentioned in the
Mimamsasutras.  Several other names are mentioned in both.)  Tradition
says Jaimini was the disciple of Veda Vyasa.  The sutras have 12 chapters
but there are also an additional 4 called devatakanda by Upavarsha who
also figures in early Vedantic tradition.

Shabaraswami is the authore of the bhashya on the Mimamsasutras.

It diverged into two schools, Bhattamata of Kumarila Bhatta who wrote
three works commentating on Mimamsa, Shlokavarttika, Tantravarttika and
Tuptika, and Gurumata of Prabhakhara Mishra who wrote Brhati and Laghvi.
They disagree with each other on several points and with the bhashya.
Advaitins follow Bhattamata so I will only talk about that.

Tradition says Mandana Mishra was the disciple of Kumarila.  He wrote
several Mimamsaka works and an independent Vedantic work called
Brahmasiddhi which was close to Advaita but differed from Shankaracharya
in some ways.  Tradition also says after being defeated by Shankaracharya
he became his disciple and became Sureshvaracharya who is the author of
many important Advaita works as you know.

Vachaspati Mishra is the author of authoritative works on many darshanas
including Bhamati in Advaita Vedanta.  He also wrote on Mimamsa.

Parthasarathi Mishra wrote Shastraratnakara which was a compendium of
Bhatta interpretations on their sutras.  He took sannyasa under the name
Amalananda and wrote Vedantakalpataru on the Bhamati.

Another influential compendium  was Jaimininyayamala with commentary
called vistara by Madhava who is famous in Advaita tradition as
Vidyaranya.  His brother Sayanacharya is famous for his Vedic bhashyas
although they are not strictly speaking Mimamsa works they owe much to
that darshana.

Yet another compendium which was responsible for a rennaiscence in Mimamsa
studies was Bhattakalpataru and Bhattatantra by Khandadeva.  He took
sannyasa under the name Shridharendra Saraswati.

A popular introductory work in Mimamsa is called Arthasamgrah by Laugakshi
Bhaskara. It has atika called kaumudi by Rameshwar Bhikshu who was an
Advaitin.

Appaya Dikshita and Bhaskararaya are two moe famous names who were
Advaitins and also wrote on Mimamsa.

So you can see see their is quite an intimate relationship between the two
darshans.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/