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...
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Text 10.76
(3) [A generality is understood from a particular case:]
शङ्क� नीता� सपदि दश�-स्तन्ध-पद्यावलीना�
वर्णान� कर्णाध्वनि पथिकताम् आनुपूर्व्याद� भवन्तः |
हंहो डिम्भा� पर�-शुभदान� हन्त धर्मार्थ-कामान्
यद� गर्हन्तः सु�-मयम् अमी मोक्षम� अप्य� आक्षिपन्ति ||
śṅk ī� sapadi 岹ś-standha-padyāvalīnā�
varṇān[1] karṇādhvani 貹ٳ첹峾 ānupūrvyād Գٲ�[2] |
ṃh ḍi� parama-śܲ hanta dharmārtha-峾
yad Գٲ� sukha-mayam ī ǰṣa apy ṣi貹Գپ ||
śṅk—I suspect; ī�—bdzܲ; sapadi—at once; 岹ś-skandha—of the tenth canto [of 岵ٲ ʳܰṇa]; padya—of the verses; 屹ī峾—of the multitudes; ṇāḥ—the phonemes; 첹ṇa—of the ears; adhvani—on the path; 貹ٳ첹峾—to the state of being travelers; Գܱܰ—in sequence; Գٲ�—all of you venerable persons; ṃh—hum hum; 徱�—O children (O fools); parama-śܲ—the topmost auspiciousness; —which give; hanta—a; dharma—moral codes; artha—economic development; 峾—and the quest for the fulfilment of material desires; yat—bܲ; Գٲ�—while criticizing; sukha-mayam—consisting of bliss; ī—those [phonemes]; ǰṣa—lپDz; api—e; ṣi貹Գپ—are deriding.
I suppose that all of you respectable persons turned the syllables of the verses of the tenth canto of 岵ٲm into a file of travelers on the path of yours ears because those syllables, O fools, rebuke ordinary moral codes, the quest for wealth, and the pursuit of material happiness, which provide the topmost auspiciousness, and, alas, even deride the liberation that consists of bliss! (Bhakti-峾ṛt-sindhu 1.2.240)
atra caturvarga-tiraskāritayā skandha-sāmānye prastute daśamasya tad-viśeṣasyokti�.
In this verse, the contextual topic, the generality, is the cantos of 岵ٲm, and that is understood from the mention of the tenth canto, a particular one of them, by means of the rebuke of the four goals of life.
Commentary:
According to ī ҴDz峾ī,[3] in this verse ū貹 ҴDz峾ī elaborates upon the sixty-first aspect of devotional service, mentioned earlier (Bhakti-峾ṛt-sindhu 1.2.91): The relishment of 岵ٲm in the company of rasika devotees.
ī ҴDz峾ī says the verse features ٳܳٲ-śṃs and Ჹ-ٳܳپ, whereas վśٳ Cakravatī says there is Ჹ-stuti. The vocative ḍi� (O fools) constitutes the Ჹ-ٳܳپ ornament because the individuals are praised under the pretext of criticism: The individuals are fools by following the 岵ٲm, which disregards the first three goals of life as well as the liberation which only consists of transcendental bliss, but in fact the individuals are not fools by seeking to achieve prema-bhakti by reading 岵ٲm.
The following is Mammaṭa’s example:
etat tasya mukhāt kiyat kamalinī-patre kaṇa� vāriṇo
yan muktā-maṇir ity amaṃsta sa jaḍa� śṛṇv anyad asmād api |
aṅguly-agra-laghu-kriyā-pravilayiny ādīyamāne śanai�
kutroḍḍīya gato mamety anudina� nidrāti nānta�-śucā ||“Is anything special about hearing from him that a certain blockhead thought the water drops on lotus petals were pearls? And one more thing. Listen to this: When he proceeded to pick up the drops, they vanished due to the light pressure of his fingertips, and since then that dolt, intensely aggrieved at the thought “Where did my pearls go?�, is sleepless day and night.� (ṭa-śٲ첹)
Mammaṭa explains:
atrāsthāne jaḍānā� mamatva-屹 bhavatīti sāmānye prastute śṣa� 첹ٳٲ�,
“Here a particular instance is stated when the actual subject matter is this generality: “Fools feel possessiveness for the wrong things� (屹ⲹ-ś, verse 441 ṛtپ).
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
ṇāḥ (Bhakti-峾ṛt-sindhu).
[2]:
� (Bhakti-峾ṛt-sindhu).