The Role of paribhāṣās in Mīmāṃsā: Rational Rules of Textual Exegesis

Abstract

Abstract This article provides a first investigation on the metarules adopted in the Mīmāṃsā school of textual exegesis. These are not systematically listed and discussed, but they can be seen at work throughout the history of Mīmāṃsā. The Mīmāṃsā school has the exegesis of the sacred texts called Veda as its main focus. The metarules used to understand the Vedic texts are, however, not derived from the Veda itself and are rather rational rules which can be derived from the use of language in general and which Mīmāṃsā authors recognized and analyzed. Since the metarules are considered to be not derived from the Veda, it is all but natural that later authors inspired by Mīmāṃsā apply them outside the precinct of the Veda, for instance in the fields of textual linguistics, poetics, theology and jurisprudence.