Kumarila Bhatta c. 700 – c. 750

Kumarila Bhatta was an Indian Sanskrit philosopher and the principal exponent of the Bhatta sub-school of Mimamsa, the Vedic school of ritual exegesis and epistemology. Working in dialogue with Buddhism, he produced a sustained defense of the eternity and self-validity of the Vedas, the reality of the external world, and the priority of action over contemplation in the path to liberation. His Slokavarttika develops original arguments in epistemology and philosophy of language that influenced not only Mimamsakas but also their Vedanta and Nyaya interlocutors. He is sometimes credited with contributing to the decline of Buddhist scholasticism in northern India.