274. MAHIMA BHAȚȚA'S CRITICISM OF DHVANI 305

MAHIMA BHAȚȚA'S CRITICISM OF DHVANI 305

tional meaning only; because it is contradicted by the direct experience.1 Similarly from the expressions 'Gangayam ghoșaḥ' (Hamlet on the Ganga) the meaning 'Hamlet on the bank of the Ganga' is got through inference. For, the meaning 'a current of water', cannot reasonably be represented to be the substratum of a hamilet, because that is contradicted by the fact of experience. Hence from the word 'Ganga' simply because its use cannot be explained in any other way than through the assumption that the meaning 'a current of water' has been identified with 'bank of the river' simply because of the relation of the two, and that the former implies the latter, which is capable of being a substratum of a hamlet, we get the meaning 'the bank of the Ganga' through inference, because not only similarity but also relation of proximity is recognised to be a basis of identification.

The explanation of the rise of the secondary meaning, offered by those who admit the power of word to arouse the secondary meaning, is not sound. For, the word Ganga exhausts its expressive power in giving rise to the meaning 'a current of water'. It knows nothing about 'bank of the Ganga' ctc. nor is it related to the same in any way. Hence it is incapable of giving rise to the secondary meaning.

The purpose of such a use of words in the present case is to arouse the ideas of holiness and coolness in association with the bank, on which the Ganga is superimposed. Hence this purpose is distinct from that of arousing the conscious- ness of similarity, as in the case of 'Gaurbahīkah'. But in 1. V. V. 112. 39