History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c17.s2.35

c17.s2.35

In fact the term *grahaṇa* in this context means simply "a word mentioned",¹ and not, as Barua implies, "the acceptance" of one as belonging to the class denoted by the word. *Upalakṣaṇa* means "implying something that has not been expressed",² the connotation of the word, as distinct from its denotation. Thus *vṛddhaśrāvaka* literally means "an elderly disciple", but its secondary meaning or *upalakṣaṇa* is, according to Utpala, "a devotee of Śiva." Similarly *Ājīvika* means, according to the usual interpretation, "a professional ascetic" ³; but Utpala declares that it further means "a devotee of Nārāyaṇa" by *upalakṣaṇa*.