Negation was analysed by Indian grammarian-philosophers from the very beginning of the linguistic thought in India. Over the centuries its understanding developed from purely formal to more semantically and pragmatically oriented analysis. Some of this analysis was influenced by concepts developed by other philosophical schools, which led to the change in the interpretation of negation in the school of Vyākaraṇa. The article first presents the early interpretations of negative expressions in the school of Sanskrit grammarians and then discusses the semantic shift that took place around the 11th century CE in the meaning of negation, especially the implicative ( paryudāsa) type. It analyses the passages from various grammatical and philosophical commentaries which introduce the concept of āropa (superimposition) to interpret negation.