---
type: Concept
bundle: mimamsa-dharma
bundle_version: 0.10.0
id: mantra
title: Mantra (Mīmāṃsā)
iast: Mantra
devanagari: मन्त्र
description: 'In Mīmāṃsā, a Vedic formula whose ritual role is to express and bring to mind the elements of the act during performance, subordinate to injunction; NOT a magic spell, NOT a mystically powerful vibration, NOT a meaningless syllable.'
darshana:
- Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā
text_source: Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 2.1.32
tags:
- mantra
- mimamsa
- ritual-language
- prakashana
not:
- term: 'a magic spell (a sound that compels a result)'
  why: 'Mīmāṃsā''''s account of mantra is deflationary: a mantra functions to denote and recall the ritual factors at the right moment; it is not an occult force that produces the result. The result comes from the correctly performed act via apūrva, not from the mantra''''s power.'
  instead: 'Render mantra as a Vedic formula that expresses and recalls the ritual''''s elements in performance, not a magic spell.'
- term: 'a mystically powerful vibration'
  why: 'That register, mantra as sonic power, belongs to Tantric and devotional traditions (see nāda in bhakti-marga). The Mīmāṃsā mantra is a meaning-bearing formula with a ritual job, not a vibration with intrinsic force.'
- term: 'a meaningless sacred syllable'
  why: 'For Mīmāṃsā mantras have meaning, and their meaning is precisely what does their ritual work, expressing the act''''s factors; they are not treated as meaningless.'
related:
- /concepts/arthavada.md
- /concepts/viniyoga.md
- /concepts/yaga.md
timestamp: '2026-07-08'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Mantra (Mīmāṃsā) -- मन्त्र

**Not:** a magic spell, a mystical vibration, a meaningless syllable

## What It Actually Means

What is a mantra for, if the deity need not be persuaded and the sound has no magic? Mīmāṃsā answers functionally: a mantra is that Vedic utterance whose job is to express and bring to awareness the components of the enjoined act at the time of doing it, so the performance is done knowingly and completely. Like arthavāda, mantra is subordinate to vidhi, and it is applied to rites by viniyoga. This sober, function-first analysis is one of the clearest ancient theories of ritual language.

## Audience Metaphor

A pilot''s spoken checklist, "flaps set, speed checked," does not fly the plane; it brings each required element to mind at the right moment so the procedure is done rightly. The Mīmāṃsā mantra is that checklist within the rite: it names and recalls, it does not conjure.

## Citations

1. Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 2.1 (the mantra adhikaraṇa) -- see [references/mimamsa-sutra.md](../references/mimamsa-sutra.md)
2. Artha-saṃgraha on the function of mantra -- see [references/artha-samgraha.md](../references/artha-samgraha.md)
