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Chapter V Śabdavṛttis, the nature of: 'Abhidhā'
General Introduction :
We have seen how the concept of sabda-vyāpāra is reflected in recognition of abhidhā and guṇavṛtti or lakṣaṇā in various philosophical disciplines such as those represented by the Mimāmsakas, Naiyāyikas and the rest and also the earlier grammarians such as Pāņini, Patanjali etc. All this was a rich heritage which shaped the concepts in their chiseled form in the hands of alamkarikas such as Mammata and others who followed Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Actually Anandavardhana is the first one, so far as available written documents are concerned, who devotes space to draw a line between abhidhā and/or lakṣaṇā gunavṛtti, on one hand and vyañjana on the other. He underlines the difference between abhidha/vyañjanā and lakṣaṇā/vyañjanā by establishing 'svarūpabheda' and 'visayabheda', and finally establishing vyañjanā as an independent. power of words. But it is left to Mammata and his followers to systematically define and distinguish between one and the other function of a word and we will therefore first take up this aspect of definition and distinction of each of these sabdavṛttis and then see how Anandavardhana establishes vyañjana as an independent function. Vyañjana will be treated in greater details because the other two viz. abhidhā and lakṣaṇā have been given enough space when we discussed their position and nature as reflected in various philosophical disciplines on an earlier occasion. We will then first start with abhidhā.
We know that according to sanskrit writers on poetics, words possess three distinct śaktis or vyāpāras i.e. powers or functions, viz. (i) abhidhā sakti or the power of direct expression, (ii) lakṣaṇā śakti or the secondary power of a word, or, the power of indication, and (iii) the vyañjana śakti or the suggestive power of a word. The terms vṛtti and vyāpāra are used as synonyms for the term sakti. Thus, by the abhidhā sakti or the power of expression, the word is supposed to
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