early period, and the word Mîmâ/m/sâ itself together with its
derivatives is already employed in the Brâhma/n/as to denote the doubts
and discussions connected with certain contested points of ritual. The
want of a body of definite rules prescribing how to act, i.e. how to
perform the various sacrifices in full accordance with the teaching of
the Veda, was indeed an urgent one, because it was an altogether
practical want, continually pressing itself on the adhvaryus engaged in
ritualistic duties. And the task of establishing such rules was moreover
a comparatively limited and feasible one; for the members of a certain
Vedic sâkhâ or school had to do no more than to digest thoroughly their
own brâhma/n/a and sa/m/hitâ, without being under any obligation of
reconciling with the teaching of their own books the occasionally
conflicting rules implied in the texts of other sâkhâs. It was assumed
that action, as being something which depends on the will and choice of
man, admits of alternatives, so that a certain sacrifice may be
performed in different ways by members of different Vedic schools, or
even by the followers of one and the same sâkhâ.

The Uttara Mîmâ/m/sâ-/s/âstra may be supposed to have originated
considerably later than the Pûrva Mîmâ/m/sâ. In the first place, the
texts with which it is concerned doubtless constitute the latest branch
of Vedic literature. And in the second place, the subject-matter of
those texts did not call for a systematical treatment with equal
urgency, as it was in no way connected with practice; the mental
attitude of the authors of the Upanishads, who in their lucubrations on
Brahman and the soul aim at nothing less than at definiteness and
coherence, may have perpetuated itself through many generations without
any great inconvenience resulting therefrom.

But in the long run two causes must have acted with ever-increasing