2. INTRODUCTION:-
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa was a Hindu philosopher and a scholar
of Mimamsa philosophy from early medieval India.
He was born in Assam in around 700 AD.
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa is sometimes regarded as an avatar of
Kumaraswamy, the son of Parvati and Shiva.
The main purpose of this avatar was to protect the Vedas
which were dwindling away from the then India.
Vedas are and continue to remain to define India from
which the present day India has taken its shape, co-existing
along with many other religious beliefs.
3. INDIA IN 700 AD :-
India was ruled by king Harshavardhan
During his reign a Chinese Buddhist monk XUANZANG
came to India
XUANZANG was on a journey to spread Buddhism
King Harshavardhan was strongly influenced by
XUANZANG
But this influence had a negative impact on vedic
literature
Everyone in Harshavardhan’s kingdom was forced to
follow Buddhism and on the other hand the vedic
literature was considered author less and useless
4. HOW KUMARILA BHATTA SAVED
VEDIC LITERATURE
At a very young age kurmaila’s love for vedas became very
predominant and his convictions were very firm regarding the
importance of vedas
It is said that he mastered himself in the vedic literature at the
age of 11
Kumārila went to study Buddhism at Nalanda(the largest 4th-
century university in the world), with the aim of refuting
Buddhist doctrine in favour of Vedic religion
But he was expelled from the university when he protested
against his teacher (Dharmakirti) ridiculing the Vedic rituals
5. …
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa left Nalanda after that and settled down in Prayag
(modern day Allahabad).
Kumārila visited many kingdoms and regionalities to debate with the
Buddhist pundits.
It was tradition at that time that whoever wins a debate in the King's
court, their philosophy and ideology would be accepted by the King and
by the subjects.
To prevent the further downfall of Vedic Sanskruti, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa had
defeated many Buddhist pundits and saved the country from Buddhist
supremacy.
Later Kumarila decided to take Samadhi by burning himself on a pile of
peanut shells, which is said to be the most torturous death, to free himself
from the sin of cheating his guru at Nalanda
6. KUMARILA MEETS ADI
SHANKARACHARYA
One medieval work on the life of Adi
SHANKARACHARYA claims that Sankara
challenged Bhaṭṭa to a debate on his deathbed.
Since he was in the process of burning himself
down he refused the alms and redirected him to
Mandana Mishra
The following day Mandana and Sankara debate
with Mandana’s wife Ubhaya Bharati as
moderator.
After several days of debate though mandana
gave a healthy fight he lost the debate
Later shankaracharya made him his one of the
four disciples
