Mīmāṃsā: The Vākya-Śāstra of Ancient India

Mīmāṃsā: The Vākya-Śāstra of Ancient India examines the claim that Pūrva Mīmāṃsā constitutes a systematic science of language and sentence interpretation. Drawing primarily on Jaimini’s Mīmāṃsā-sūtra and Śabara’s Bhāṣya, with supplementary reference to later authorities such as Kumārila, Mādhava, Āpadeva, and Laugākṣi Bhāskara, G. V. Devasthali reconstructs Mīmāṃsā theories of language, word meaning, sentence structure, and scriptural interpretation. The study addresses the relationship between Vedic and ordinary language, the nature of śabda, distinctions between correct and non-standard words, the denotation of universals and individuals, and the intrinsic relation between word and meaning. The later chapters investigate methods for determining verbal meaning, the causes governing word application, primary and secondary signification, classifications of words, grammatical categories, case endings, number, gender, verbal forms, and compounds. Particular attention is given to the Mīmāṃsā definition of a sentence and to the conditions required for sentence unity, including expectancy, semantic compatibility, proximity, and unity of purpose. The book culminates in an analysis of sentence meaning and demonstrates that Mīmāṃsā developed a sophisticated interpretive framework for preserving the authority, coherence, and practical application of Vedic injunctions. It therefore presents Pūrva Mīmāṃsā not merely as a ritual philosophy but as a major classical Indian contribution to semantics, grammar, hermeneutics, and philosophy of language.