Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture

Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 278

Anekānta and the Problem of Meaning 261
principle of Anekānta or indeterminateness is involved in selecting either of them as per the context requires.
Suggestive Meaning Of all the four types of meaning, the suggestive meaning is the most indeterminate. It depends on a number of contextual factors such as time, place, occasion, intention, intonation, gestures etc. of the listener or the spectator. It varies from person to person and context to context. Unlike primary and metaphorical meanings it includes various socio-cultural meaning and even an emotive element also. It is well known how numerous meanings are evoked in the minds of different persons by the stock example of suggestive meaning namely, gato 'stam arkah i.e., the sun is set. Though grammarians, scientists, logicians and philosophers, interested more in the accuracy, precision, clarity and objectivity of meaning, prefer the lexical or primay meaning to the suggested one, the very indeterminate and infinite potency of the suggested meaning has rendered it more competent than the primary meaning for expressing both the aesthetic and mystic experiences embodying fine literature and profound philosophy respectively. Thus, Bergsont in his Introduction to Metaphysics says, “Language is incapable of apprehending and expressing reality. But language may be used in another way, not to represent, but to bring the hearer to a point where he himself may transcend language and pass to incommunicable insight. It is a dialectical ladder which, when we have ascended, may be kicked away.” This insight and intuition cannot be expressed directly by words, but they can be communicated through the power of suggestion.
Tätparyavrtti or Sentence-meaning Thus, from the foregoing the anekāntic nature of the suggested meaning becomes obvious. The same may be said in respect of even the Tatparyavrtti or sentence-meaning. There is a difference of approach between the abhihitānvaya theory of sentence-meaning advocated by the Bhätta school of Mimāmsā and anvitābhidhāna theory of sentence-meaning propounded by Prābhākara school of Mimamsā. The former holds that the unitary meaning of the sentence is indirectly conveyed through the recollection of the meaning of the words that comprise it, while the latter takes the view that the unitary
1.
Indian Theories of Meaning (=ITM), K. Kunjuni Raja, Adyar, Madras, 1963, p. 293.