''Vidhāna'' is a genre of texts dealing with the use of Vedic

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

s outside of Vedic sacrifices to attain various ends.

Texts

Except for the

Atharva Veda The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (, , from ''wikt:अथर्वन्, अथर्वन्'', "priest" and ''wikt:वेद, वेद'', "knowledge") or is the "knowledge storehouse of ''wikt:अथर्वन्, atharvans'', the proced ...

,: "There is no corresponding work to the ''Atharvaveda''. The ''Kauśiksūtra'', which deals with magical and other practices in addition to Śrauta and Gṛhya ceremonies can be regarded as representing the Vidhāna text proper for this Veda." there is a Vidhāna text for each

Veda FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

, namely the ''Ṛg Vidhāna'', the ''Yajur Vidhāna'', and the ''Sāma Vidhāna''. M. S. Bhat dates the composition of these texts to between 500 and 300 BCE, with the ''Ṛg Vidhāna'' being the oldest. In addition to these three texts, chapters dedicated to the ''Ṛg'', ''Sāma'', ''Yajur'', and ''Atharva Vidhāna'' also appear in the ''

Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa The Vishnudharmottara Purana (or the ''Vishnudharmottara'') is a Hindu Sanskrit text in the ''Upapuranas'' genre. Like the ''Mahapuranas'', it is also encyclopedic covering a wide range of topics in the traditions of Hinduism. It is included in t ...

'' (Khanda II, chapters 124–127) and the '' Agni Purāṇa'' (chapters 259–262); most of these are likely based on homonymous works that have not survived. The ''Ṛg Vidhāna'' is also followed up by works with titles such as ''Ṛgvidhānakārikā'', ''Ṛgvidhānasaṁkṣepa'', and ''Ṛgvidhi''; these are likely late compendia.

Ṛg Vidhāna

The oldest of Vidhāna texts, ''Ṛg Vidhāna'', composed in mixed

Śloka Shloka or śloka ( , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927).) in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is "any verse or stan ...

and Triṣṭubh metres, is attributed to Śaunaka. The text, in the earlier, shorter recension, consists of four ''adhyāya''s, or chapters. A commentary on the text, entitled ''Ṛgvidhāna-pada-pañcikā'', by Mātṛsūnu, is extant.

Sāma Vidhāna

The ''Sāmavidhāna-brāhmaṇa'', or simply the ''Sāma Vidhāna'', is, despite its name, not properly a

Brāhmaṇa The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , IAST: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded wit ...

text, but belongs to the Vidhāna literature. It consists of three ''prapāṭhaka''s and was commented upon by

Sāyaṇa Sayana (IAST: Sāyaṇa; also called Sāyaṇācārya; died 1387) was a 14th-century Sanskrit Mimamsa scholar from the Vijayanagara Empire of peninsular India, near modern day Bellary, Karnataka. An influential commentator on the Vedas, he flo ...

Yajur Vidhāna

The ''Śuklayajurvidhānasūtra'' is ascribed to

Kātyāyana Kātyāyana (कात्यायन) also spelled as Katyayana ( century BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. Origins According to some legends, he was born in the Katya lineage origina ...

and consists of seven ''adhyāya''s in the best preserved recension of the text; an earlier edition of the text was designated as ''Yajurvidhāna-śikṣā'' and was included among the '' Śikṣā'' texts. A commentary entitled ''Yajurmañjarī'' was written on the text by Mahārāja Mahībhuj, with the assistance of Kālanātha-bhaṭṭa.

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