232. ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF MEANING 257

ABHINAVAGUPTA'S THEORY OF MEANING 257

Often it is found that the consciousness of a sudden termination of a mood, involved in a basic mental state, is the source of æsthetic experience, as for instance, in the situation described in :-

"Ekasmin Sayane etc." The1 suggested ideas, which arouse the consciousness of such a termination of a mood, are technically called (iii, Bhāvaśantidhvani. The classification on the basis of the relation of the conventional to the suggested tells us of the antecedent conditions of the consciousness of the suggested. There are two main divisions of this class :- (i) Avivaksitavacya, that is, that which throws the conventional meaning into the background or subordinate position as not having been intended to be conveyed by the speaker and (ii) Vivaksitānyaparavācya, that is, that which puts the conventional meaning. in relation with something else than that with which it is apparently connected in the statement. The following illustrations will make the point in hand clear :- Suvarņapuşpām prthvim cinvantipuruşāstrayah, Śūraśca krtavidyaśca yaśca janāti sevitum. (Only three persons, the brave, the learned and the one who knows how to serve, pluck the gold flowers of the land that produces them.) Here the conventional meaning, as given in the last part of the above statement, is contradicted by our direct knowledge of the world. We do not know of any land that may be literally producing flowers of gold. Their 1. Dh. L., 24. 33