Life
Shabara, or Shabarasvamin, wrote the foundational commentary on Jaimini’s Mīmāṃsāsūtra. He is generally placed in the early to middle first millennium CE, although precise dates and personal details remain uncertain. What survives most clearly is his participation in debates about interpretation, knowledge and action.
Contribution
He explains how an injunction can communicate something that perception alone does not disclose: an obligation or a result associated with prescribed action. His commentary also considers doubt, word meaning and the authority of testimony. The argument is not that any inherited statement must be believed; it depends on a specific account of Vedic language and its role.
Key works
- Śābara Bhāṣya
- An extensive commentary on the Mīmāṃsāsūtra. The linked Sanskrit resource includes only specified portions, rather than a complete translated edition.
Legacy
Kumarila and Prabhakara develop different philosophical positions through their readings of this commentary. Shabara therefore occupies a pivotal place between a foundational text and competing systematic schools. His work demonstrates how interpretation can generate new philosophy even when it presents itself as explaining an inherited authority.
What kind of knowledge does an instruction provide that a description of the world does not?
Sources
- Reference
- CommentarySanskrit transliteration
Mīmāṃsāsūtra with Śabara’s Bhāṣya, chapters 1–7 (opens in a new tab)
GRETIL · Göttingen State and University Library
How to read itRoot text and commentary are presented together. This is a partial electronic edition, not the entire twelve-chapter work.
- University guideEnglish
Mīmāṃsā Darśana — IGNOU unit 4 (opens in a new tab)
IGNOU · public university, India
How to read itInterpretation, language and duty; a modern teaching resource.