Anekāntavāda And Syādvāda: Four Types Of Meaning

In India, various schools of philosophy including those of the Sanskrit grammarian and rhetoricians have devoted much thought to the linguistic problem of meaning and have evolved different theories to explain the semantic aspect of language. As to the meaning, it is supposed that a word or a sentence may convey the primary or metaphorical or suggested meaning. In addition to these three types, some Mīmāṁsakas, Naiyāyikas and rhetoricians postulate Tātparya or the sentence-meaning as the fourth type. Some consider it to be independent of the first three, while others associate it with any one of them. Out of these four types of meaning, the suggested and purposive meanings are severally indeterminate, relative and, hence, anekāntic in nature. But, in case of the primary and secondary meanings the principle of Anekānta or indeterminateness is involved in selecting either of them as per the context requires.