‘Meaning’ has been an evergreen concept in Indian philosophy and poetics. Traditional Indian philosophical and literary schools have been competing with each other in the conceptual clarification of how one arrives at the meaning of a word and on what basis. With respect to word meanings, Indian linguistic tradition defines two basic types of meaning, often referred to as primary and secondary meaning, named vācya and lakṣya respectively. Both of which are related to the ‘word meanings’.Through his work, Dhvanyāloka, Anandhavardhanacharya established a supreme meaning called vyaṅgya. The present course is designed to make the student aware about this concept of vyaṅgya, which sometimes coined as dhvani/suggestive meaning. Once the student is well aware about dhvani theory, he/she can apply it to various poetic & art forms, which will indeed serve as a stepping stone to literary criticism.
- Teacher: Anil Narayanan N