 Before discussing the syllogism, we must take notice of the word pakṣa (thesis), which Dignāga uses instead of pratijñā (proposition). The word is used both for the statement, previously called a proposition and now called a thesis, as well as for the factual situation it expresses. It is also used to refer to the grammatical subject of the thesis statement as well as to the thing denoted by the grammatical subject. (See Staal 1973 for a lucid exposition of this and other ambiguities in the technical terms of classical Indian logic.)