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Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana

by Gaurapada Dāsa | 2015 | 234,703 words

Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s Sahitya-kaumudi covers all aspects of poetical theory except the topic of dramaturgy. All the definitions of poetical concepts are taken from Mammata’s Kavya-prakasha, the most authoritative work on Sanskrit poetical rhetoric. Baladeva Vidyabhushana added the eleventh chapter, where he expounds additional ornaments from Visv...

Go directly to: Footnotes.

[This verse illustrates artha-citra (amazing because of the literal meanings):]

आम्नाय-प्रथितान्वया स्मृतिमती बाढं षड�-अङ्गोज्ज्वला
  न्यायेनानुगत� पुरा�-सुहृदा मीमांसया मण्डित� |
त्वा� लब्धावसर� चिराद् गुरु-कुले प्रेक्ष्� स्�-सङ्गार्थिन�
  विद्या ना� वधूश� चतुर्द�-गुणा गोविन्� शुश्रूषत� ||

峾ⲹ-prathitānvayā ṛtī bāḍha� ṣa�-aṅgojjvalā
  nyāyenānugatā ܰṇa-ܳṛd īṃs ṇḍ
|
tvā� labdhāvasarā cirād guru-kule ṣy sva-saṅgārthina�
  峾 vadhūś ٳܰ岹ś-ṇ� govinda śśūṣaٱ
||

峾ⲹ-ٳ󾱳ٲ-Ա—whose development is expanded by means of the Vedas (or whose lineage was spread by means of good traditional family customs); ṛt-ī—it is endowed with Manu-ṛt and so on (or she has good memory); ḍh—aܰ; ṣa�-ṅg-ᱹ—effulgent with the six ձṅg (or she has resplendence in six limbs: head, waist, two hands and two feet[1]); nyāyena anugatā—followed by the scriptures on logic (or attended by good behavior: Բⲹ = nīti); ܰṇa-ܳṛd—with assistants named the ʳܰṇa (or with elders and friends); īṃs—b īṃs (or by the desire to know[2]); ṇḍ—aǰԱ; ٱ峾—Ydz; -—b whom an opportunity was obtained; —after a long time; guru-kule—in school (or in the clan of elders); ṣy—after seeing; sva-ṅg-arthinam—[You,] who desire her association; —kԴǷɱ岵; £; ū�—t young woman; ٳܰ岹ś-ṇ�—who has fourteen qualities (4 Vedas, the ṛts, 6 ձṅg, and Nyāya, ʳܰṇa, and īṃs) (or she has the best fourteen qualities out of the twenty-four ṇa of Nyāya[3]); govinda—O Govinda; śśūṣaٱ—serves (“desires to hear�).[4]

[Siddhas and ṇa praise Śrī ṛṣṇa:]

O Govinda, the young woman named Knowledge has at last obtained an opportunity. Seeing You in school, she is serving You, who are eager for her association. She has these fourteen qualities: Her development is expanded by means of the four Vedas, she is endowed with the ṛts, she is effulgent with the six ձṅg, she is attended by Nyāya, and she is adorned by assistants, the ʳܰṇa, and by īṃs.

Alternatively: O Govinda, seeing You in the company of Your parents, the young woman named Knowledge has obtained an opportunity after a long time and desires to hear from You, who are eager for her association. She has fourteen qualities. Indeed, her lineage has spread by means of good traditional family customs, she has good memory, she has high resplendence in six limbs, she has good behavior, she is attended by elders and by friends, and she is adorned with the desire to know. (Bhakti-峾ṛt-sindhu 2.1.77)

pūrvatra ś岹-kṛta� cārutva� prādhānyād anubhūyate, paratra tv artha-kṛta� tat. iha rasādi-rūpasya vyaṅgyasya sphuṭam apratyayād avyaṅgyam etat kāvya-dvayam uktam. vastutas tu vibhāvādirūpatayā sarvatra rasa-paryavasāyitāsti.

In the previous verse, the beauty, made by the sounds, was perceived in terms of being predominant, but in this verse the beauty is made by the meanings.

The two subdivisions of third-rate poetry have no implied sense insofar as there is no clear suggestion of an implied sense which is the form of a rasa-徱. In truth, however, since literal ideas are the forms of and so on, there is always a culmination of a rasa.

Commentary:

The verse features a ṃsṛṣṭi (independent mix of ornaments) of ū貹첹 (metaphor) and śṣa (literal double meaning). The author of ṛṣṇānԻ徱ī explains:

atra 峾 vadhūr ity arthālaṅkāro ū貹첹m, tasya prathama-pratītatvāt prādhānyam, śṣasya tu tad-upapādakatvād gauṇyam ity ٳ�,

“The metaphor is 峾 ū� (the young woman named Knowledge). It is predominant because it is perceived first. The śṣa is secondary because it justifies the metaphor� (ṛṣṇānԻ徱ī).

This is Mammaṭa’s example of artha-citra (amazing because of the meanings):

te ṛṣṭi-ٰ-patitā api kasya nātra kṣobhāya pakṣmala-dṛśām alakā� khalāś ca |
nīcā� sadaiva sa-vilāsam ī첹-lagnā ye � ṭim iva na tyajanti ||

“Who in this world is not taken aback by the splendid curly hair of women with beautiful eyebrows and by wicked people—even when they fall on the eyes (or the minute they are seen) (ṛṣṭi-ٰ-patita)? Both are low (ī). The curls always resplendently adhere to the forehead (sa-vilāsam ī첹-lagna) (as for wicked people: they are always playfully addicted to lying). They do not give up their darkness nor their crookedness () (ṭi)� (屹ⲹ-ś, verse 140).

The verse features the artha-śṣa ornament (one literal meaning applies to two things) (the puns on: ī, , ṭi, etc.) and śṣa (literal double meaning of the word ī첹, etc.). Mammaṭa does not value the implied simile (curls of women are like wicked people), which could be classed as second-rate since it is not as beautiful as the literal meaning of the text (asundara) (5.15). Or else this simile is a third-rate implied sense because it is not intended to be emphasized. Other examples of third-rate poetry were shown in texts 1.13 and 1.14.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

ṣa�-ṅgԾ ś-madhya-bhāgau hastau pādau ceti (Durgama-ṅgmanī).

[2]:

In the etymological explanation of the word īṃs, the desiderative suffix is applied after the verbal root man[u] bodhane (8A) (to know, understand).

[3]:

The twenty-four ṇa of Nyāya are: form / color (ū貹), taste (rasa), odor (gandha), touch (貹ś), number (ṅk), measurement (貹ṇa), separateness (ṛt󲹰ٱ), contact (ṃyDz), disjunction (i.e. that which removes contact) (), remoteness (paratvam), proximity (aparatvam), heaviness (gurutvam), fluidity (dravatvam), viscosity (sneha), sound (ś岹), cognition (buddhi, jñānam), happiness (sukham), unhappiness (ḥk󲹳), desire (), dislike (屹ṣa), effort (prayatna), moral codes (dharma), absence of moral codes (adharma), and impressions arising from karma (ṃs). A good woman does not have the following ten: odor, separateness, disjunction, remoteness, heaviness, fluidity, unhappiness, dislike, absence of moral codes, and impressions from karma.

[4]:

The verbal base śśūṣa is formed by adding the desiderative suffix in the sense of ܱԲ (service), by the rule: upāsane’pi śruva� (Hari-峾峾ṛt-첹ṇa 580).

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