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(100) : Jaina Philosophy of Language
word 'Kṛṣṇa' denotes the name of a person who performs the act of beating, while in the second, 'Kṛṣṇa' denotes the person who had suffered from the act of beating. Thus, according to śabda-naya, the meaning of the word changes as per gender, affix, suffix, verb, subject etc.
(6) Samabhirūḍha-naya: Samabhirūḍha-naya accepts the different meaning of the synonym words by the difference of their etymology". It overlooks the identity of the meaning of the synonyms. For example, the words like Nṛpa, Bhūpati, Bhūpāla, Rājā etc. denote a king. But the Nṛpa is one who takes care of the public, Bhupati is the lord of land, Rājā is one who has the (Kingly) grace. The synonyms thus, though have etymologically different denotations acquire the same meaning in due course of time, as denoting one and the same thing. However, this naya, regards synonyms as having different meaning by the etymological point of view e.g. he, who has great power, is Indra; he, who is capable, is Śakra etc.
(7) Evambhūta-naya: It determines the meaning of the word purely from the etymological point of view. 10 In other words that which accepts the meaning of the words indicated by them only when the object is engaged in the action, indicated by those words. For example, a king can be called Rājā at that time only when he is showing his splendour. A teacher is a teacher, when he is teaching. In the practical life however, this is not the case. A teacher is a teacher whether he is teaching or not at a particular time. According to this naya, individual, universal, adjective, conjunctive, substantive all these words are fundamentally of the nature of verbs." The meaning of a word is expressive of the power of verb. We must therefore determine the meaning of words on the basis of their verbs.
We thus, find that the naya theory attempts to underline that the comprehension of right meaning of the statement should be made on the basis of the structural or forms of sentences. It emphasises the intentional meaning of word or a sentence; and this is revealed in form in which the statement is stated. The meaning of the statement is determined by the linguistic structure and the style of expression of the speaker and as such, there are as many nayas as there are ways of speech. The naya theory does not take any one-sided view, but tries to see the meaning of the word in the total perspective in which it is presented (spoken).
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