Śivasaṃhitā 1.20

This verse lays out the foundational structural map of Vedic tradition as the Śivasaṃhitā understands it. The Veda is not a homogeneous body but a bipartite corpus: karmakāṇḍa, governing ritual action, and jñānakāṇḍa, transmitting liberating knowledge. This division is not merely academic — it frames the philosophical argument that unfolds across the verses immediately following.

Kāṇḍa literally means «section» or «stem,» like a segment of bamboo, suggesting organic parts of a unified whole. Karma derives from kṛ (to do, act); jñāna from jñā (to know). The adverb dvidhā («in two ways») and participial mataḥ («considered,» «held to be») indicate an established classification rather than a novel proposal.

Philosophically, this bipartition maps onto the later schools of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, which systematized ritual action, and Uttara Mīmāṃsā (Vedānta), which systematized knowledge. By invoking this well-known framework, the Śivasaṃhitā situates yoga within — and ultimately beyond — both streams, implying that yogic practice integrates what the two kāṇḍas address separately.