Chapter 2.6 - Śabara’s View on Vidhi

The author of ‘Mīmāṃsādarśana’ Jaimini has mentioned righteous activity (dharma) as the subject-matter of vedic injnction. He says—‘codanālakṣaṇo’rtho dharmaḥ.’^[1]

(The duty is an object distinguished by a command). In the explanation of this aphorism, the commentator Śabarasvāmin clearly informs us,

“codaneti kriyāyāḥ pravartakaṃ vacanam āhuḥ. ācāryacoditaḥ karomīti hi dṛśyate. lakṣyate yena tallakṣaṇam. dhumo lakṣaṇam agner iti hi vadanti. tayā yo lakṣyate so’rthaḥ puruṣaṃ niḥśreyasena saṃyunaktīti pratijānīmahe. codanā hi bhūtaṃ bhavantaṃ bhavisyantaṃ sūkṣaṃ vyavahitaṃ viprakṛṣṭam ityevaṃjātīyakam arthaṃ śaknoti avagamayituṃ na anyat kiṃca, na indriyam”^[2]

(The wise men say that ‘codanā’ means a sentence instigating a man to an action. Because it is noticed that people say, ‘I am doing this action being prompted by teacher or master. That which indicates something is called ‘lakṣaṇā’. Because people say, ‘smoke’ is the lakṣaṇa (indicator) of fire. We know that the object indicated by injunction (codanā) connects a person to liberation or salvation. This codanā is able to express the object which is past, happening, or which is about to be. Or it expresses a subtle, intervened or distant object. There is none to express these matters. Even the sense organs can not express these).

Vaidyanātha Śāstrin, the author of the gloss ‘Prabhā’ on Śabarasvāmin’s commentary has shown two kinds of compound in the word ‘codanālakṣaṇa’. One is ‘codanaiva lakṣaṇaṃ pramāṇaṃ yasya’ (that of which codanā is the only proof) and another is ‘codanā lakṣaṇaṃ eva yasya’ (that of which codanā is proof only). By the first analysis of compound it is understood that the proofs other than the vedic command have no authenticity regarding vedic duty. The second analysis wipes out the possibility of unauthenticity of vedic command.

Vaidyanātha Śastrin explains the word ‘codanā’—

“pravartakaṃ pravṛttyanukūla-vyāpārarūpapravartanābodhaka-liṅādipratyaya-ghaṭitaṃ vacanaṃ ‘yajeta svagakāmaḥ’ ityādirūpaṃ vākyam. evaṃ codanāpadārthaḥ siddhaḥ.”

(Codanā means a vedic sentence constituted of liṅ suffix etc. expressing the meaning of inciting to an action which is in the form of activity conducive to the commencement of the action. For example, ‘One desiring heaven should sacrifice.’ Thus the meaning of the word ‘codanā ’ is established).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mīmāṃsādarśanam—1.1.2

[2]:

Śābarabhāsya on Mīmāṃsādarśana—1.1.2