roughly 7th century CE) was a Hindu philosopher and a scholar of Mimamsa school of philosophy from early medieval India.
For example, Manikka Vachakar believed that Bhaṭṭa promoted a personal God[3] (saguna brahman), which conflicts with the Mīmāṃsā school.
In his Varttika, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa goes to great lengths to argue against the theory of a creator God[4] and held that the actions enjoined in the Veda had definite results without an external interference of Deity.
[9][10][11][12] Kumārila Bhaṭṭa and his followers in the Mīmāṃsā tradition known as Bhāṭṭas argued for a strongly Compositional view of semantics called abhihitānvaya or "designation of what has been denoted."
[13] He also used several Tamil words in his works, including one of the earliest mention of the name Dravida in North Indian sources, found in his Tantravārttika.
In his text Slokavarttika, Kumārila Bhatta argues that cognitions are intrinsically valid (svatah pramanya):[15] It should be understood that all pramanas' have the property of being pramanas intrinsically; for a capacity not already existing by itself (svatah) cannot be produced by anything else.Kumārila argues against the need for second-order justification before accepting cognitions as valid.
He specifically takes the Buddhist verse: 'ime samkhada dhamma sambhavanti sakarana akarana vinassanti' (These phenomena arise when the cause is present and perish when the cause is absent).
Therefore false compositions (asannibandhana), they cannot possibly be true knowledge (shastra) ... By contrast, the very form itself (the well-assembled language) of the Veda proves its authority to be independent and absolute.2.
[22] According to legend, 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.
Legend has it that even though he was thrown off of the university's tower, he survived with an eye injury by claiming "if the Vedas are the ultimate then I will be spared from Death".
He said: You will find a home at whose gates there are a number of caged parrots discussing abstract topics like — 'Do the Vedas have self-validity or do they depend on some external authority for their validity?
Where you find the caged parrots discussing such abstruse philosophical problems, you will know that you have reached Maṇḍana's place.Kumarila's importance in the history of Indian philosophy comes to light in view of how his work has been extensively quoted.