Chapter 3 - Utpattividhi (Introduction)

The Utpadtividhi [utpadti-vidhi] describes the nature of a work. For example, ‘agnihotraṃ juhoti’ (He should sacrifice by the Agnihotrahoma). Here the work agnihotra is related to injunction as a means for the desirable object. It implies that one should get his desirable object by performing the Agnihotrahoma.

Here a question arises. Every sacrifice or oblation (homa) is characterised by substances and deities. But in the aforesaid utpattividhi these are not stated. So, can it be called a utpattividhi? The solution is that it is not conducive to any fallacy; because there is no hard-and-fast rule that the characteristic features of a sacrifice must be cited in a utpattividhi. On the other hand, an injunction can not be judged as a utpattividhi by the mere mention of the characteristic features of a sacrifice. Otherwise ‘dadhanā juhoti’ (He should sacrifice by curd.) would also be a utpattividhi. So, ‘agnihotraṃ juhoti’ must be a utpattividhi. Actually ‘dadhanā juhoti’ this guṇavidhi (an injunction which conveys some additional information for another main injunction) states curd as the substance for agnihotra. The deity is mentioned in another vedic sentence.

The Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa says:

“agnir jyotir jyotir agniḥ svāheti sāyaṃ juhoti, sūryo jyotir jyotiḥ sūryaḥ svāheti prātaḥ.”^[1]

(He offers at evening by uttering the hymn, ‘Fire is light, light is fire. Svāhā.’ He offers in the morning by uttering the hymn, ‘The sun is light, light is the sun. Svāhā.’)

Here the word ‘svāhā’ means ‘an exclamation used in offering oblations to the gods (with dative). Here it is an indeclinable. In this vedic sentence Agni and Surya have been mentioned as deities for homa. So, ‘agnihotraṃ juhoti’ in this injunction agnihotra is a technical name. This sacrifice is performed to Agni and Sūrya deities in the morning and evening twilight respectively. The ‘tat-prakhya’ maxim has been used here to explain this solution. ‘Tat’ denotes the deity and ‘prakhya’ means denotative. This maxim has been borrowed from Jaimini’s aphorism ‘tatprakhyaṃ cānyaśāstram.’^[2] It means, ‘it is known by that name, but the description is in another book.’ If any injunction does not state its deity and necessary substances, then these are described in another place and we should depend on that description. So, the conclusion is that ‘agnihotraṃ juhoti’ is utpattividhi, and not a guṇavidhi.

Śabarasvāmin has given another example of utpattividhi. He also established the utpattividhitva (the state of being utpattividhi) of the injunction, ‘āghāram āghārayati ’ (He should sprinkle clarified butter upon the sacrificial fire). In upāṃśuyāga (a kind of sacrificial ceremony in which hymns are uttered in a low voice) this āghāra (sprinkling) is performed. Here the pūrvapakṣin (one who puts an objection to a decision) says that this injunction is an example of guṇavidhi. He supports himself by saying this that if it is a guṇavidhi, then there is no necessity of accepting the secondary meaning as in ‘udbhitā yajeta’ (He should sacrifice by the Udbhidyāga.) The vedic sentence ‘āghāraṃ nirvartayati’ (He accomplishes the act of sprinkling.) lays down the substance of the injunction ‘āghāram āghārayati.’

Śabarasvāmin clearly presented the view of the pūrvapakṣin. He said—

“na ca guṇavidhipakṣe lakṣaṇā bhavati yathā udbhidā yajeta iti. agnihotre samāsenāvagataṃ guṇavidhānam. āghāre’pi, āghāraṃ nirvartayati iti śrutyā eva guṇo vidhīyate.”^[3]

The siddhāntin (one who makes a conclusion) says that the quality (substance and deity of a sacrifice) is known from another text. And the text is, ‘catur gṛhītaṃ vā etad abhūt tasyā’ghāram āghārya.’ Here substance is mentioned for the act of ‘āghāra’.

Śabarasvāmin explained the word āghāra.’—

‘dīrghaghārā kṣaraṇakriya prasiddha evā’ghāraḥ’^[4]

(Sprinkling or oozing is known as āghāra.). So, ‘āghāra’ is a nomenclature of an activity. So, the sentence ‘āghāram āghārayati’ is a kind of karmotpattividhi. It is not a guṇavidhi.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa—2.1.2.10

[2]:

Mīmāṃsādarśana—1.4.4

[3]:

Śābarabhāṣya of Mīmāṃsādarśanam—1.4.4

[4]:

Ibid.