The Mīmāṃsā scholar Kumārila is known for having laid the foundations of the Bhāṭṭa school, and in regard to his theories on vākya, which constitute an important part of his doctrines, he established the so-called abhihitānvaya theory, a theory that was to subsequently lead to a history of intense theoretical disputes with the Prābhākara school and its anvitābhitāna theory. As a result, Kumārila’s views on vākya are today generally subsumed under the designation “abhihitānvaya theory.” But when considered from another angle, it is also possible to refer to them by the term “theory of indirect sentence signification” (*vākyārthalakṣaṇā theory, or the theory that the meaning of a sentence is conveyed indirectly), and in the present paper we take up for consideration the half-śloka “vākyārtho lakṣyamāṇo hi sartvatraiveti nas(ḥ) sthitiḥ” in which Kumārila himself explicitly proclaims this “theory of indirect sentence signification” to be a doctrine of his school. In later literature there are to be found many examples of this half-śloka being quoted in sections dealing with theories of language, and even where it is not quoted phrases tallying with it in sense are to be often found. A further point of interest from the standpoint of the historical study of the Mīmāṃsā school is the fact that this half-śloka does not appear in any of Kumārila’s extant works, and it is also bound up with the important question of the elucidation of the enigmatic Bṛhaṭṭīkā (BT), a work by Kumārila that is now lost. In this paper, having taken account of the research undertaken by modern and contemporary scholars in regard to this half-śloka, we point out the existence of numerous variants which we then examine, and we also discuss citations of the hitherto unreported remaining half-śloka which together with the above-mentioned half-śloka ought to form a single whole śloka. Even though this in itself may represent but a quite trifling step forward, we consider that if it should prove possible to establish that this śloka does belong to the BT, then this will be of some value in the study of the BT itself which is still marked by so many uncertain factors.
