---
type: Concept
bundle: mimamsa-dharma
bundle_version: 0.10.0
id: viniyoga
title: Viniyoga
iast: Viniyoga
devanagari: विनियोग
description: 'The rule-governed application of a mantra, material, or subsidiary act to its rite, established by six graded means of evidence; NOT symbolic interpretation, NOT priestly improvisation, NOT free association.'
darshana:
- Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā
text_source: Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 3.1.7
tags:
- viniyoga
- mimamsa
- application
- six-means
not:
- term: 'symbolic interpretation'
  why: 'Viniyoga is not reading symbolic meanings into ritual elements; it is a rule-governed procedure for assigning each element its place using ordered evidence.'
  instead: 'Render viniyoga as the rule-based application of mantras and materials to rites, established by graded evidence, not symbolic reading.'
- term: 'priestly improvisation or discretion'
  why: 'The whole point is to remove discretion: the six means (śruti, liṅga, vākya, prakaraṇa, sthāna, samākhyā) are ranked so that stronger evidence overrides weaker, fixing application objectively.'
- term: 'free or associative connection'
  why: 'Connections are not made by resemblance or association but decided by the hierarchy of textual evidence.'
related:
- /concepts/anga-pradhana.md
- /concepts/mantra.md
- /concepts/namadheya.md
timestamp: '2026-07-08'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Viniyoga -- विनियोग

**Not:** symbolic interpretation, priestly improvisation, free association

## What It Actually Means

Once a rite''s structure is known, one must decide what goes where: which mantra accompanies which offering, which subsidiary belongs to which principal. Viniyoga is this application, and Mīmāṃsā''s signal contribution is the ordered sextet of means for establishing it: śruti (direct statement) is strongest, then liṅga (a word''s indicatory capacity), vākya (syntactic unity), prakaraṇa (context and mutual need), sthāna (position and sequence), and samākhyā (name), each yielding to the one before. This ranked-evidence method is a genuine hermeneutic algorithm, and it later shaped Indian legal and textual interpretation broadly.

## Audience Metaphor

A strict rule of evidence in court, where an eyewitness statement outranks circumstantial position, which outranks a mere label, decides what attaches to what. Viniyoga is ritual''s rules of evidence: six ranked tests that assign every mantra and material its rightful place.

## Citations

1. Mīmāṃsā Sūtra 3.1 to 3.3 (the six means of application) -- see [references/mimamsa-sutra.md](../references/mimamsa-sutra.md)
2. Artha-saṃgraha on viniyoga -- see [references/artha-samgraha.md](../references/artha-samgraha.md)
