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The Mimamsa Sutras

Jaimini·c. 200 BCE·Sanskrit·attributed

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Jaimini's aphorisms on the interpretation of Vedic duty. In defending the authority of the ritual word, the Mimamsakas developed sharp theories of language, evidence, and obligation, and argued that duty may be performed for its own sake rather than its fruits.

Now, therefore, the inquiry into dharma.

Dharma is that beneficial thing which is indicated by the Vedic injunction. The relation of the word to its meaning is inborn and eternal; instruction is the means of knowing dharma, infallible concerning all that cannot be seen; and the injunction is its authority.

The Veda, on this account, was never composed — not by men, and not even by God: the words themselves are without beginning, and the sacrifice they enjoin bears its fruit by its own unseen power, needing no other guarantee.

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