Jaimini

Jaimini is the sage traditionally credited with the Mīmāṃsā Sūtras, the foundational text of the Mīmāṃsā school of Indian philosophy. Practically nothing is known of him as a historical person. The Sūtras, probably compiled around the third or second century BCE, cite earlier teachers by name — Bādari, Bādarāyaṇa, Aitiśāyana — which shows that they codify a tradition of ritual interpretation already centuries old.

Legend

In the epics and Purāṇas, Jaimini is one of the four great disciples of Vyāsa, the compiler of the Vedas and the Mahābhārata; he is said to have received the Sāma Veda from his master, and to have heard the Mahābhārata from him. A legend tells that Jaimini once doubted a verse of Vyāsa’s which said that “the senses are so strong they overpower even the wise”. To test him, Vyāsa took the form of a beautiful woman caught in the rain; Jaimini, overcome, offered her shelter — and learned the verse’s truth.

The Sūtras

The Mīmāṃsā Sūtras contain about 2,700 aphorisms in twelve books. Their first sūtra — athāto dharma-jijñāsā, “Now, therefore, the inquiry into dharma” — announces their subject, and the second defines dharma as that which is indicated by Vedic injunction. The first book establishes the authority of the Veda and the eternity of words; the rest examine, with great precision, the different kinds of ritual acts, their order, their principal and subsidiary elements, transfers of details from one rite to another, and substitutes and modifications. The Brahma Sūtras of Bādarāyaṇa, the root text of Vedānta, open with an echo of Jaimini: athāto brahma-jijñāsā, “Now, therefore, the inquiry into Brahman” — marking Vedānta as the “later inquiry” that complements his “prior inquiry”.