The Karma-Mimamsa #262374

Not rarely in the Brahmanas, especially in later texts like the Kaus'itaki, the term Mimar'nsa occurs as the designation of a discussion on some point of ritual practise. The sacrifice left innumerable opportunities for divergence of usage in detail, and the texts decide in favour of one or the other alternative, on the strength of the reasons familiar to the Brahmanas, in special the symbolical significance attaching to the action recommended. There is a vital difference between this form of Mimamsa and that of the classical karma-mimamsa school, in the fact that in the former the appeal to authority, and the necessity of reconciling apparent discrepancies of authority, are entirely lacking. But the tendency to surrender judgment in favour of tradition may be traced in the care with which in the Satopatha and the Kausitaki Brdhmanas the name of the teacher is adduced in support of the doctrines expounded; in the older style the reasonings stand by themselves, commended by their intrinsic value.