rcasm,
and to this day his opinions pass as _guru-mata_, whereas the views
of Kumarila Bha@t@ta pass as _bha@t@ta-mata_ [Footnote ref 1]. It may not
be out of place to mention here that Hindu Law (_sm@rti_) accepts without
any reservation the maxims and principles settled and formulated
by the Mima@msa.

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[Footnote 1: There is a story that Kumarila could not understand the
meaning of a Sanskrit sentence "_Atra tunoktam tatrapinoktam iti
paunaraktam_" (hence spoken twice). _Tunoktam_ phonetically admits of
two combinations, _tu noktam_ (but not said) and _tunauktam_ (said by
the particle _tu_) and _tatrapi noktam_ as _tatra api na uktam_ (not
said also there) and _tatra apina uktam_ (said there by the particle
_api_). Under the first interpretation the sentence would mean, "Not
spoken here, not spoken there, it is thus spoken twice." This puzzled
Kumarila, when Prabhakara taking the second meaning pointed out to him
that the meaning was "here it is indicated by _tu_ and there by _api,_
and so it is indicated twice." Kumarila was so pleased that he called
his pupil "Guru" (master) at this.]

70

The _Vedanta sutras_, also called Uttara Mima@msa, written by
Badaraya@na, otherwise known as the _Brahma-sutras_, form the
original authoritative work of Vedanta. The word Vedanta means
"end of the Veda," i.e. the Upani@sads, and the _Vedanta sutras_ are
so called as they are but a summarized statement of the general
views of the Upani@sads. This work is divided into four books or
adhyayas and each adhyaya is divided into four padas or chapters.
The first four sutras of the work commonly known as _Catu@hsutri_
are (1) How to ask about Brahman, (2) From whom proceed birth
and decay, (3) This is because from him the Vedas have come forth,
(4) This is shown by the harmonious testimony of the Upani@sads.
The whole of the first chapter of the second book is devoted to
justifying the position of the Vedanta against the attacks of the
rival schools. The second chapter of the second book is busy in
dealing blows at rival systems. All the other parts of the book are
devoted to settling the disputed interpretations of a number of individual
Upani@sad texts. The really philosophical portion of the work is thus
limited to the first four sutras and the first and second chapters
of the second book. The other portions are like commentaries
to the Upani@sads, which howeve