  Insofar as this central divergence between Kumārila and Prabhākara involves reference to a shared foundation of texts, it is important to appreciate the traditional Brahmanical context for Kumārila’s thought. “Mīmāṃsā” literally means something like “investigation” or “inquiry,” but here refers particularly to hermeneutical inquiry. Kumārila’s tradition of Pūrva (“prior”) Mīmāṃsā, then, is typically so denominated in contrast to “Uttara,” or “subsequent,” Mīmāṃsā.   Both strands of Mīmāṃsā have as their guiding concern the interpretation and right application of Vedic texts, which these two schools agree in thinking to be uniquely authoritative for matters of ultimate concern. These schools differ chiefly over which portion of this vast corpus of texts should be thought definitive; for “Veda”—a scriptural category that is arguably definitive of “Hinduism”—represents a status traditionally claimed for a huge range of texts, composed over a large period of time (from c. 1200 bce to early in the first millennium and even later), and comprising a wide spectrum of literary genres and characteristic doctrines. Advocacy of the “Pūrva” Mīmāṃsā position is defined by commitment to the authority particularly of the earlier portion of the Vedic corpus (culminating with texts called Brāhmaṇas), which chiefly concerns the performance of ritual sacrifice; hence, the school of thought advanced by Kumārila was also well known as Karma Mīmāṃsā (“hermeneutics of ritual action”) or Adhvara Mīmāṃsā (“hermeneutics of sacrifice”). In contrast, Uttara Mīmāṃsā takes its bearings from that portion of the Vedic corpus that comprises the Upaniṣads, which were traditionally styled “Vedānta” (“culmination of the Veda”); indeed, the same word is more familiar to many modern readers as denoting Uttara Mīmāṃsā itself.   (On relations between these two traditions of Mīmāṃsā, see the essays in Bronkhorst 2007.)