Text 2.2

स्वरूपम् एषां वक्ष्यते,

svarūpam eṣāṃ vakṣyate,

He mentions their natures:

vācyādayas tad-arthāḥ syuḥ ||2.6c||

vācya-ādayaḥ—vācya and so on; tad-arthāḥ—the meanings related to them; syuḥ—are.

The meanings related to them are vācya and so on.

teṣāṃ vācakādīnām arthāḥ kramād vācya-lakṣya-vyaṅgyāḥ syuḥ.

The meaning of a literally expressive word (vācaka) is called vācya (literal), the meaning of an indirectly expressive word (lākṣaṇika) is called lakṣya (indirect, or figurative), and the meaning of a suggestive word (vyañjaka) is called vyaṅgya (implied).

Commentary:

The term “literal” here means the dictionary meaning: It refers to the meaning assigned to a word (2.8), whether the meaning is conventional, etymological, or both (2.10 vṛtti). A synonym of vācaka is mukhya (primary) (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 2.8).

The term vācya artha means the literal meaning of one word, but in usage Mammaṭa, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa and others also use it to denote the literal meaning of a clause or of a sentence.

The reason Mammaṭa makes a difference between a word and its literal meaning is that sometimes the same meaning can be achieved with a different word, therefore a meaning is not the sole property of a given word. The predominance of a word over its meaning (when a synonym cannot be used for the same effect) or of a meaning over the word that expresses it is a deciding factor in the categorization of implied meanings and in the scheme of several ornaments, such as artha-śleṣa.

Other Kavyashastra Concepts:

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Other concepts within the broader category of Hinduism context and sources.

Mukhya, Arthashlesha, Ornament, Implied meaning, Figurative meaning, Literal meaning.