History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.256

v7.c93.256

Another and an important classification is apūrva-vidhi (injunction of something quite new and not otherwise established as in 'svargakāmo yajeta'), niyamavidhi (a restrictive injunction) as in 'he pounds the rice' and parisaṅkhyāvidhi (an injunction in form where two alternatives being simultaneously possible one is precluded). The Tantravārtika defines these three in a well-known verse.¹⁹⁹⁷ For a sacrifice a plot of land is required which may be quite flat or may have ups and downs. Here there are two alternatives only and both cannot be availed of at the same time (i. e. a man cannot perform a sacrifice at the same time on even as well as on uneven ground). Therefore, 'same deśe yajeta' (one should offer a sacrifice on an even spot) is a *niyama* (it restricts the performance to flat land only) and excludes the use of uneven land for a sacrifice. 'Five five-nailed animals are to be eaten'. This is a parisaṅkhyā This sentence is not a vidhi, as eating flesh is already established by men's appetites. Nor is it a niyama, since one can eat the flesh of five-nailed animals as well as of other animals at the same time. It is a parisaṅkhyā. i. e. it prohibits the eating of the flesh of animals other than of five five-nailed animals. In form the sentence is a vidhi (as it employs the word 'bhakṣyāḥ' (which is optative or potential passive participle), but in substance it is a prohibition of eating the flesh of animals other than the five five-nailed ones. The word parisankhyā occurs in P. M. S X. 7. 4 and 7 and Śabara notes that it is liable to three faults.¹⁹⁹⁸