Ancient Indian Rules of Interpretation and Its Relevance in Contemporary Society

Abstract

Ancient Indian Rules of Interpretation and its relevance in Contemporary Society Tshering Choden Abstract: In ancient India there was tremendous development of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, grammar, philosophy, literature and law. This is evident from the large number of legal treatises in ancient India. The Mimamsa Sutra or the Purva Mimamsa Sutras, written around 600 B.C. by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools (darshanas) of Indian philosophy. According to tradition, sage Jaimini was one of the disciples of sage Veda Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. The Mimansa Rules of Interpretation were created for resolving the practical difficulties in performing the Vedic Yajnas. The rules for performing the various yagyas were given in books called Brahmanas e.g., Shatapath Brahman, Aitreyas Brahman, Taitreyas Brahman etc. There were many ambiguities, conflicts, incongruities in the texts and hence principles of interpretation had to be created for this purpose. Thus, the Mimansa principles were originally created for religious purpose, but they were so rational and logical that subsequently they began to be used in law, grammar, logic, philosophy etc. In this paper, one aspect of our native Jurisprudence, viz. our traditional principles of interpretation, has been dealt with, and the aim is to study the same in the context of its obscurities and relevance in the contemporary society. The principles of interpretation of statutes mainly relied on in our law courts are those dealt with in the works of Western jurists like Maxwell and Craies. However, in our country we had developed from very early times a scientific system of interpretation known as the Mimansa Principles and these were regularly followed by our renowned jurists like Vijnaneshwara (author of Mitakshara), Jimutvahana (author of Dayabhag), Nanda Pandit (author of Dattak Mimansa) etc. Most of these principles are rational and scientific, and in some respects superior to the principles obtaining in Western Law.