Analysis of Meaning in the Indian Philosophy of Language

Abstract

Meaning has been defined by the majority of ancient Indian writers on the philosophy of language in terms of a relation. Thus, the great grammarian Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa defines meaning as a particular relation between the word and the object denoted. This relation is a power, which exists in the object as signifiability, and in the word as significativeness. It is only by the cognition of this relation that the presentation of objects by means of words is possible.