196. ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF MEANING 219

ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF MEANING 219

the case terminations, will put the two images in the necessary relation. But the complex would be a meaning- less jumble of ideas and not a harmonious whole, because it would stand for what in actual experience is not possible. For, a hamlet cannot exist on a current of water. Such sentences are, however, found in the standard works, not only in Sanskrit but in other languages also. And tradition finds a meaning, and a good one too, in them. For instance, when the aforesaid sentence is used, it is under- stood to mean that the hamlet is situated on the bank of the Ganges and that it is cool and holy. To explain this the third power of words, the Laksanasakti, is postulated.1 When some such words are intentionally used as do not arouse a harmonious complex of meanings in the mind of the hearer by means of conventional power of language: on the contrary, the meaning of one opposes that of another; under such circumstances the function of the secondary power of language (Laksanāśakti) is to arouse such additional ideas as are necessary to put them in harmonious relation and to reveal the purpose of such use by the speaker. Thus the additional idea of the bank, aroused by this power, removes the lack of harmony; and the purpose of the spea- ker in using such coustruction is understood to be to convey the idea of coolness and holiness of the hamlet,

AN ILLUSTRATION OF DHVANI

There is a garden on the bank of river Godavari. It is far from public haunt. A pair of lovers fixes it for a secret meeting at a particular time. One of the pair comes to this place a little before the fixed time. She sees a religious minded man going about here to collect flowers for worship. His sight is not quite welcome. She

1. S. D., 36-8.