Sahrdayaloka Part 02

Author(s): Tapasvi Nandi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 44

'Vyañjana'
599 characteristic of dhvani. So, in all cases of expression, where one thing indicates something which it is not, it is, so to say, taken as a case of dhvani. It is this mode of expression, both to be found in ordinary conversation as well as in poetic use of language, that in sanskrit tradition, is studied as a particular linguistic mode of expression, here vyañjanā. Therefore, dhvani is that which suggests something other than itself, and which is known to be separate from itself, and by this common point of suggestion, - vyañjakatva-sāmyāt-the vyāpāra, i.e. 'function' is also called 'dhvani'. According to the Vaiyākaranas, the world is artha-rūpa i.e. of the form of meaning, and is derived from sphoța, the sabda-brahma. In the like fashion, we derive the ghatártha from the word ghata.
This dhvani is identified with word in our day to day affairs. So kāvya is also termed as dhvanikāvya. Every sound is suggestive of the sabda-brahma, which is sphota-rūpa. The artha of this sabda-brahma is world. The whole process is as follows - dhvani-sabda, sabda-brahma, - i.e. sphoța, and vivartita artha. Here we may note that even in the process of gathering the conventional meaning from the word, an element of suggestion or vyañjanā is involved. Vyañjanā is that process by which something not manifested becomes manifested. Dhvani or sabda first suggests sphoța and as sphoța is eternally connected with the meaning, we derive meaning from dhvani. Morover, it may be noted that vyañjanā is that process of manifestation through which something already existing is manifested. Vyañjanā does not create new objects.
Sphoțavāda and Vyañjanā - we will be able to make a note of certain marked parallelisms between the sphotavāda of the grammarians on the one hand and the vyañjanāvāda on the other. The points of comparision are as below :
(i) As observed earlier, for the grammarians, dhvani is explained as, dhvanati iti dhvanih'. Dhvani is so termed because it sounds or rings or reverberates sphota, i.e. suggests it. The word ghara, for example, is used for the object-artha-ghata, which is seen, touched etc. This idea of one thing indicating something else, which it is not, becomes, so to say, the distinguishing charecteristic of dhvani. So, all cases of expression, where one thing expresses something which it is not, becomes, so to say, the distinguishing characteristic of dhvani. The writers on poetics extend this connotation of the word dhvani. Taking the quality of dhvanitva' into consideration, they include all that was related to this in dhvani. Thus, guna, alamkāra, rīti, vștti, pada, padāmsa, varņa, vākyártha, - all these become vyañjaka, i.e. suggestive of the vyangya.