ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter begins by pointing out that, while the ‘contemporary relevance’ of the Mīmāṃsāsūtras can be proposed in a number of ways, this book has sought to do that specifically through an enquiry that is grounded in Jaimini’s primary concern for dharma and tradition. The chapter then reminds us that the central argument that is put forward can be more simply stated as a claim that Jaimini’s unique conception of dharma in his Mīmāṃsāsūtras, which when read as a philosophy of Vedic practice that possesses the structures of a hermeneutic tradition, can offer substantive and methodological insights to the contemporary scholarship on ritual. It is in light of this central argument and two accompanying aims that it then proceeds to present a brief summary of the contributions of each of the main chapters. This summary is then followed by a proposal towards a more ‘dialogic’ study of ritual.
