Śivasaṃhitā 1.22

This verse refines the vidhi category into three technically precise subcategories that Mīmāṃsā philosophy developed with considerable sophistication. Nitya rites are daily obligatory duties such as sandhyāvandana; naimittika rites arise in response to specific circumstances like eclipses or deaths; kāmya rites are optional, performed in pursuit of a desired result such as prosperity or progeny.

Nitya means «eternal, permanent, daily» — from ni-tyā, always thus; naimittika derives from nimitta (cause, occasion), indicating what is conditioned by an external event; kāmya comes from kāma (desire), marking the motivated intention behind the act. Vidhikūṭa («cluster of injunctions») frames these three as a coherent normative system.

For the yoga practitioner, this tripartition carries practical resonance. Daily sādhana — āsana, prāṇāyāma, meditation — mirrors the nitya category: non-negotiable, regular, independent of circumstance. The kāmya category anticipates the discussion of yogic siddhi, powers that can be sought but which the Śivasaṃhitā will consistently warn against treating as ultimate goals.