The word “mīmāṁsā” means “systematic investigation” in Sanskrit.•Perhaps reacting to Buddhism’s scientific system of investigating the inner workings of the human mind and reality as a whole, Mīmāṁsā put special emphasis on rationalist studies.•Mīmāṁsā originally primarily derived from the Sūtra of Jaimini (around 300-200 BCE). In later centuries, many commentators added their own views about this school of thought. Kumārila is the best known of these commentators