Bhāvanā as a principle of Vedic interpretation in Mīmānsā

Abstract

Pūrva-mīmāṃsā is one of the six most significant orthodox traditions of Ancient India, dealing with the interpretation of language from a philosophical point of view, in particular, with the issues of interpreting karma-kāṇḍa – the section of the Vedas that pertains to action. Within the framework of these issues, answers are being sought to the questions about the meaning of a sentence, the relationship between language and reality, etc. The concept of bhāvanā («creating energy») plays an important role in resolving these issues. The article is aimed at revealing the semantic structure of this concept and reconstructing the principle of interpretation of the Vedas developed by Mīmāṁsā on its basis. To this end, the author refers to the primary sources in Sanskrit – Mīmāṃsā-sūtra and Śabara-bhāṣya.