Abstract
Studies of Indian philosophy have generally overemphasized the con-sistency of philosophical systems over time, and consequently slighted later works as derivative. This paper seeks to reassess the “system” as a basic category for analyzing Sanskrit philosophy, in particular by examining the changes that took place in hermeneutics, or Mīmāṃsā, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it became commonplace for Mīmāṃsā authors to criticize long established Mīmāṃsā positions. At first this criticism is selective and largely directed at more recent authors, but the margins of acceptable criticism are gradually broadened to the point when even the foundational works of the tradition are routinely attacked, and works are produced whose sole purpose appears to be to attack established Mīmāṃsā tenets, sometimes without even attempting to replace them with a more workable set of views. It becomes increasingly difficult to see what if anything one must believe to be considered a Mīmāṃsaka.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appayyadīkṣita. (1901). In Mukunda Śāstrī (Ed.), Vidhirasāyana. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series 13. Varanasi: Vidyāvilāsa Press.
Halbfass W. (1988). India and Europe: An essay in understanding. Albany, State University of New York Press
Khaṇḍadeva. (1922). In A. K. Sastri (Ed.), Bhāṭṭadīpikā. Bombay: Nirnaya Sagara Press.
Khaṇḍadeva. (1923–33). In A. Chinasvāmi Śāstrī (Ed.), Mīmāṃsākaustubha. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series 58. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office.
Krishnamachariar V. (1947). Manuscript notes: Two rare commentaries on the Śāstradīpikā. Adyar Library Bulletin 11.4: 257–262
McCrea L. (2002). Novelty of style and novelty of substance in seventeenth century Mīmāṃsā. Journal of Indian Philosophy 30.5: 481–494
Murāri. (1931). Aṅgatvanirukti. Printed as a supplement to Vol. 3 of Mīmāṃsādarśanam (ānandāśr̥ama Sanskrit Series 97 [1st ed.]). Poona: Ā nandāśramamudraṇ ālaya.
Śambhubhaṭṭa. (1902). Mīmāṃsābālaprakāśa. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series 16. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office.
Śambhubhaṭṭa. (1922). Prabhāvalī. Printed in Khaṇḍadeva.
Skinner Q. (2002). Visions of politics, volume I: Regarding method. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McCrea, L. Playing with the System: Fragmentation and Individualization in Late Pre-colonial Mīmāṃsā. J Indian Philos 36, 575–585 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-008-9043-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-008-9043-y