Kumārila Bhaṭṭa facts for kids

Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (lived around the year 700 AD) was an important Hindu philosopher and scholar. He belonged to the Mimamsa school of philosophy in early medieval India. He is well-known for his many ideas and writings on Mimamsa, especially his work called Mimamsaslokavarttika.

Kumārila Bhaṭṭa strongly believed in the rules and teachings of the ancient Vedas. He was a great supporter of the Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā branch of Mimamsa. He also believed strongly in performing religious rituals. His main work, the Varttika, is a detailed explanation of earlier writings about the Mimamsa Sutras. Some scholars describe his philosophy as focusing on real-world existence.

Scholars have different ideas about what Kumārila Bhaṭṭa thought about a personal God. For example, some like Manikka Vachakar believed he supported the idea of a God with specific qualities. However, this view often goes against the main ideas of the Mimamsa school. In his Varttika, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa spent a lot of time arguing against the idea of a creator God. He believed that following the actions and rituals described in the Vedas would bring results on their own, without a God's help.

Kumārila Bhaṭṭa is also famous for logically explaining the Mimamsa belief that the Vedas were not written by any human or god. This idea is called apauruṣeyā. He notably defended Vedic rituals against the ideas of medieval Buddhists. His arguments helped lead to a decrease in Buddhism in India, as his lifetime was when Buddhism began to decline. Even Buddhist historians, like Taranatha, confirmed that Kumārila was successful in his debates against many Buddhist scholars. His work had a big impact on other schools of Indian philosophy. However, while Mimamsa saw the Upanishads as less important than the main Vedas, the Vedanta school disagreed with this idea.

See also

In Spanish: Kumarila Bhatta para niños