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or current meaning of a word. How the meaning of lakṣaṇā is aquired, is very well explained by Amareshwar Thakur in his Introduction (at p. 28 to the Kāvyaprakāśa of Mammata (bet. 1050 and 1100 A.D.):
“When the current meaning is barred by incompatibility and another meaning connected with the current meaning (vācyārtha) comes to be attached to the word either through usage (rūdhi = prasiddhi or prayogavāha) or for a special purpose (prayojana) then the function( vrtti) by which this new meaning is presented is called lakṣaṇā.
Two examples are given for laksanā: one is karmani kusalaḥ 'expert in work' and the other is gangāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ resides in the Ganges.í Here in karmani kusalaḥ the primary meaning of kuśla 'a collector of kuşa grass' (kusaṁ lāti iti) is barred by its figurative meaning expertwhich meaning has come from the primary meaning as a gatherer of kusa grass, because the gathering of kusa requires discrimination, and as a result, secondary meaning 'expert' is sanctioned by usage. In the second example, gangāyāṁ ghoṣaḥ, the primary meaning river is barred, because a ghoșa (a village of cowherds) can not reside in the river. Naturally, the meaning of the Gangā will be gargātața the bank of the Ganges.
Vyañjanā directly means the 'power of suggestion.' Vyangārtha, therefore, means 'a suggested or implied meaning of a word.'
The implied meaning of a word is that meaning which gives rise to another meaning to be understood by persons inundated with the qualities of a genius. This vyangārtha meaning depends upon (i) the speaker, (ii) the person spoken to, (iii) intonation of a language, i.e. the change of voice indicating emotions, (iv) the sentence, (v) the expressed meaning, (vi) the presence of another person, (vii) context, (viii) place and (ix) time. All the suggested meaning which gives rise to another meaning is conveyed by words which brought before the mind and so words constitute a contributing factor for the suggestion of the meaning.
Even though these three are the powers of a word, the inner power of a word is vrtti (function) or śakti (power) or sanketa (convention). It should be noted that each word in every language has a power to convey
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