[Advaita-l] Kumarila Bhattas devotion to Shiva Bhagavan

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

Shri Kumarila Bhatta (circa 7th or 8th Century AD) is one of the eminent 
acharyas of Purva Mimamsa.  His commentary on the Mimamsa Sutras and 
Shabarabhashya is in three parts: shlokavarttika on the first pada of the 
first adhyaya, the tantravarttika on the remainder of the first adhyaya 
through the third adhyaya, and the tuptika on the rest.  Here is the first 
shloka of the shlokavarttika:

vishuddhaGYAnadehAya trivedidivyachakShuShe |
shreyaHprAptinimittAya namaH somArddhadhAriNe ||

In M.M. Ganganath Jha's translation:

"Reverence to Him who wears the crescent moon, Him who is embodied in pure 
consciousness, Him whose three eyes are the three Vedas, and who is the 
source from which all prosperity flows."


This is interesting because many surveys of Purva Mimamsa suggest that it 
is atheistic.

But specifically what they object to is a creator God because they wish to 
establish the supreme authority of Shruti above any interpreter human or 
divine.  But as this shloka shows, this need not rule out other 
conceptions of the divine.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>