Mīmāṃsā

Mīmāṃsā is a Sanskrit word that means ""reflection"" or ""critical investigation"". It is also the name of one of six orthodox (astika) schools of Hinduism. The school is known for its philosophical theories into the nature of dharma based on hermeneutics of the Vedas. The school was influential and foundational to the vedantic schools of Hinduism, with the difference that the Mimamsa school developed and emphasized karma-kanda (study of ritual actions, early parts of Vedas), while the Vedanta schools developed and emphasized jnana-kanda (study of knowledge and spirituality, later parts of Vedas). The classical Mimamsa school is sometimes referred to as Purva-Mimamsa or Karma-Mimamsa.Mimamsa has several sub-schools, each refined by its epistemology. The Prābhākara Mishra sub-school of Mimamsa considered five epistemically reliable means to gaining knowledge - Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference), Upamāṇa (comparison and analogy), Arthāpatti (postulation, derivation from circumstances), and Śabda (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts). The Kumarila Bhatta sub-school of Mimamsa added sixth to its canon of reliable epistemology - Anupalabdi (non-perception, negative/cognitive proof).The school of Mimamsa consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines and the school showed little interest in systematic examination of the existence of God. Rather, it held that the soul is eternal omnipresent, inherently active spiritual essence, then focussed on the epistemology and metaphysics of dharma. To them, dharma meant rituals and social duties, not devas (gods) because gods existed only in name. The Mimamsakas held that Vedas are ""eternal authorless infallible"", that Vedic vidhi (injunctions) and mantras in rituals are prescriptive karya (actions), and the rituals are of primary importance and merit. They considered the Upanishads (later portions of Vedas) and other self-knowledge, spirituality-related texts as subsidiary, a philosophical view that Vedanta school of Hinduism disagreed with.Mīmāṃsā gave rise to the study of philology and the philosophy of language. While their deep analysis of language and linguistics influenced other schools of Hinduism, their views were not shared by others. Mimamsakas considered the purpose and power of language was to clearly prescribe the proper, correct and right. In contrast, Vedantins extended the scope and value of language as a tool to also describe, develop and derive. Mimamsakas considered orderly, law driven, procedural life as central purpose and noblest necessity of dharma and society, and divine (theistic) sustenance means to that end.Mimamsa school of Hinduism is a form of realism. A key text of Mimamsa school is the sutra of Jaimini.