Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c5.31

v1.c5.31

Some of these ideas, again, are more or less recognised in the different philosophical systems, which concern themselves with *śabda* or speech in general, in connexion with the question of scriptural revelation and interpretation. The theory of *sphoṭa*, which, however, has only a far-fetched relation to Poetics, has also its significance in some systems of philosophy; and the idea of manifestation, implied in the *vyañjanā-vṛtti*, which consists not in the expression of something new but in the manifestation of something already existing, is not altogether unfamiliar to Indian speculation. A similar train of thought meets us in the Sāṃkhya idea of causation (i 117-18), in which the effect is not produced but is already comprehended in the cause and therefore can only become manifest. We find another analogy in the general idea of the Vedântin's *mokṣa* or liberation, which consists of a condition, not to be produced but to be made manifest or realised, by the removal of enveloping obstacles.¹ The theory relating to the other two functions of words (*abhidhā* and *lakṣaṇā*), which play such an important part in poetic speculation, had already engaged the attention, not only of the philosophical grammarians, but also of the philosophers themselves, especially the Naiyāyikas and the Mīmāṃsakas. The Naiyāyikas, for instance, hold that by denotation (*abhidhā*) of a word, we understand not only the individual (*vyakti*), but also the genus (*jāti*) and the quality (*guṇa*)¹; while the Mīmāṃsakas maintain that it signifies primarily (*jāti*), and the *vyakti* is understood by implication (*ākṣepa*) through its inseparable connexion with *jāti*.² The *Nyāya-sūtra*, again, gives an exhaustive list of the relations through which a word may be used in a secondary sense, the idea of secondary sense, variously called *gauṇa*, *bhākta*, *lākṣaṇika* or *aupacārika artha*, being tacitly admitted in almost all the systems.³ Indeed, the theories of Poetics on these points are considerably mixed up with the doctrines of the Nyāya and Mīmāṃsā schools; and even Bhāmaha’s early work devotes a considerable space to the discussion of the logic of poetry and the expressive functions of words.