History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.506

v7.c93.506

There is another principle about sentences called 'anuṣaṅga' (elliptical extension) or the extension of a word, phrase or clause from a sentence to another or other sentences, provided all those sentences are of the same type or form. This is one type of *anuṣaṅga*. Another type is where each of two or more sentences appears to be complete by itself, but there are certain words of a subordinate character in the last sentence of a passage which have to be taken up or understood in the preceding sentences. This latter is also called *anukarṣa*. In the three *upasads* of Jyotiṣṭoma, the first²¹³⁶ is in honour of Agni in which the mantra is 'yā te Agne ayāśayā tanūr-varṣiṣṭhā gāvhareṣṭhogram vaco apāvadhīṁ tveṣaṁ vaco apāvadhīṁ svāhā'; the other two Upasads have the two mantras 'yā te Agne rajāśayā' and 'yā te Agne harāśayā' which are incomplete and in need of complementary words to complete the sentences. The conclusion is that the words 'Varṣiṣṭhā ... svāhā' are to be supplied from the first sentence and not other words from the popular language that one may choose. Another passage of the Tai.²¹³⁷ S. is 'cit-patistvā punātu, vākpatis-tvā punātu, devas-tvā savitā punatvacchidrena pavitreṇa vasoḥ sūryasya raśmibhiḥ'. Here the first two clauses appear to be prima facie complete, but when we look to the last clause where the word 'punātu' is particularised by certain other words, we at once feel that the first two clauses also should be connected with the words 'acchidreṇa... raśmibhiḥ' and that then they would be quite complete.