---
type: Concept
bundle: mimamsa-dharma
bundle_version: 0.10.0
id: vidhi
title: Vidhi
iast: Vidhi
devanagari: विधि
description: 'The injunction proper, the Vedic sentence-type that enjoins an as-yet-unaccomplished action; the operative core through which dharma is conveyed; NOT a commandment from a divine legislator, NOT a human statute, NOT a merely descriptive rule.'
darshana:
- Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā
text_source: Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 2.1.1
tags:
- vidhi
- injunction
- mimamsa
- hermeneutics
not:
- term: 'a commandment (in the Decalogue sense)'
  why: 'A commandment is a moral order issued by a divine legislator and backed by that legislator''s authority. A vidhi enjoins a to-be-done action and its meaning is analysed as a linguistic force (bhāvanā for the Bhāṭṭas, niyoga for the Prābhākaras); there is no legislating person behind it, and its authority is the authorless Veda, not a commander.'
  instead: 'Render vidhi as injunction, the sentence-form that enjoins an unaccomplished act, not as a commandment.'
- term: 'a legal statute'
  why: 'A statute is enacted by a human authority and enforced by sanction. A vidhi is apauruṣeya and self-authoritative; its binding force runs through the unseen apūrva and the demerit of omission, not through any court or penalty.'
- term: 'a descriptive rule'
  why: 'A rule may merely describe how things are done. A vidhi is irreducibly prescriptive: its whole function is to enjoin what is not otherwise established, which is why a sentence stating an accomplished fact is arthavāda, not vidhi.'
related:
- /concepts/dharma.md
- /concepts/codana.md
- /concepts/nisedha.md
- /concepts/arthavada.md
timestamp: '2026-07-08'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Vidhi -- विधि

**Not:** a commandment, a legal statute, a descriptive rule

## What It Actually Means

A *vidhi* is an injunction: a sentence that enjoins an action the hearer would not otherwise undertake, such as *svargakāmo yajeta*, "one who desires heaven should sacrifice." The vidhi is the load-bearing sentence of the Veda for Mīmāṃsā, because dharma is conveyed by injunction and by nothing else. The classic analysis distinguishes kinds of vidhi by what work the injunction does: *apūrva-vidhi* enjoins something entirely new and unestablished; *niyama-vidhi* fixes one option where several were possible; *parisaṃkhyā-vidhi* excludes what would otherwise intrude. In every case the vidhi enjoins; it does not report.

## Why It Is Not a Commandment

The temptation is to hear *yajeta* as "thou shalt sacrifice," an order from on high. Mīmāṃsā resists this on two fronts: there is no commander (the Veda is authorless), and the injunction's meaning is worked out as an impersonal linguistic force, not as the will of a legislator. The obligation is real, but it is the obligation of the enjoined act itself, secured by its unseen fruit, not the obedience owed to a person.

## Audience Metaphor

Compare a recipe's "fold in the egg whites" with a museum placard's "this painting was completed in 1642." Only the first enjoins an act you must now perform; the second reports. A vidhi is the recipe-line of the Veda, an instruction to bring something about, never a placard describing what already is.

## Citations

1. Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 2.1.1 and the classification of injunctions -- see [references/mimamsa-sutra.md](../references/mimamsa-sutra.md)
2. Śabara-Bhāṣya on vidhi and the injunctive sentence -- see [references/sabara-bhashya.md](../references/sabara-bhashya.md)
