upadhi, ( Sanskrit: “imposition”) in Indian philosophy, the concept of adventitious limiting conditions. In logic, upadhi operates as follows: a syllogism requires a ground (hetu) to prove the proposition—e.g., that there is fire on the mountain is proved by the presence of smoke. But this ground needs a qualification: there can be fire without smoke. An upadhi is recognized for the hetu. Since smoke is produced by fire in living wood, the hetu must be refined thus: smoke is present wherever there is fire in living wood.

In Bhedabheda philosophy, the concept of upadhi is used to account for the relationship between brahma, the supreme being, and its product, the evolved world; brahma and world are nondifferent in their essence but are different inasmuch as limiting conditions such as time and space, adventitious to this essence, are imposed on them.

What made you want to look up upadhi?
(Please limit to 900 characters)
Please select the sections you want to print
Select All
MLA style:
"upadhi". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
APA style:
upadhi. (2014). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/618591/upadhi
Harvard style:
Chicago Manual of Style:
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "upadhi", accessed December 26, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/618591/upadhi.


Editing Tools:
We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.

Or click Continue to submit anonymously: