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Matter
in letters of alphabet or not so expressed. The latter are called Anakṣara Dhvanis and it is contended by the Jaina's that the lower animals express themsevles by such sounds. Linguistic sounds consisting of letters of the alphabet form the basis of the spoken and the written languages of various nations.
It is in this connection that the question of supreme interest viz:--the relation of the words signifying objects to the objects signified by the words, arises. The problem of the origin of language is also indirectly connected with this question. In our introductory discourse as well as in those on the problem of reals and on space, we have indicated the ways in which the various schools of Indian philosophy approach this problem. At the risk of some repetition, we shall, however, restate the Indian theories once more here. It is to be conceded, as Bhartṛhari said:न सोऽस्ति प्रत्ययो लोके यः शब्दानुगमादृते ।
अनुविद्धमिवज्ञान सर्व शब्देन गृह्यते ॥
वाक्यपदीय
All knowledge, the whole contents of it, calmly analysed, will be found to consist in words. What then is the relationship between the words and their corresponding objects and how are we to account for it?
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SABDIKA THEORY OF SOUND AS THE ULTIMATE REALITY
We have already seen how the Sabdika's maintained that a word signified its corresponding object because there was the essential relation between them. Just as the Vedanta contended that Brahma was the only reality and the cosmic manifold, its expression or modification, the Sabdika's pointed out that Sabda or sound was the only real and the world of objects on the one hand and the world of corresponding names on the other were its manifestations:
अदादि निधन शब्दब्रह्म तत्त्वं यदक्षरम् ।
विवर्ततेऽर्थभावेन प्रक्रिया जगतो यतः ॥ १॥ वाक्यपदीय
VEDANTA AND THE SABDIKA VIEWS
According to the Vedantin's, the totality of the gross
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