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 1.12
शब्द-चित्रं वाच्�-चित्रम� अव्यङ्ग्यं त्व् अवरं स्मृतम� � �.५cd �
ś岹-ٰ� 峦ⲹ-citram avyaṅgya� tv avara� ṛt ||1.5cd ||
ś岹-citram—amazing because of the sounds; 峦ⲹ-citram—amazing because of the literal meaning; ⲹṅgⲹ‰poetry] wherein there is no implied sense; tu—hǷɱ𱹱; avaram—as inferior; ṛt—is called (“is remembered� i.e. is known from the tradition of poets).
Inferior poetry has no implied sense and is known as either ś岹-citra (amazing because of the sounds) or 峦ⲹ-citra (amazing because of the literal meaning).
sphuṭa-vyaṅgya-rahita� tad idam avara� 屹ⲹ� citram ity abhidhīyate. tac ca ś岹-citram artha-citram iti dvi-vidham.
Poetry devoid of an obvious implied meaning is third-rate and is called citra (amazing). There are two kinds: ś岹-citra (amazing because of an ornament of sound) and artha-citra (amazing because of an ornament of meaning).
Commentary:
The terms artha-citra and 峦ⲹ-citra are synonymous. Third-rate poetry is the topic of chapter six. This type of poetry, called citra (amazing) or avara-屹ⲹ (inferior poetry), is not exactly the same as citra-屹ⲹ (picture poetry) (9.37). Mammaṭa indicates that citra-屹ⲹ is third-rate poetry,[1] but that is not the case when a citra-屹ⲹ verse is outstanding. ū貹 ҴDz峾ī and Kavikarṇapūra raised the standards of citra-屹ⲹ. ĀԲԻ岹Բ equated citra and citra-屹ⲹ simply because the citra-屹ⲹ verses of old-school poets did not have a rasa nor a significant implied sense.[2] Mammaṭa partly reiterates ĀԲԻ岹Բ’s methodology.
In the ūٰ, the word ṛt (remembered) signifies that the concepts were taken from a previous authoritative author: The three categories of poetry were invented by ĀԲԻ岹Բ.[3] Mammaṭa added the term avara (inferior) as a synonym of citra (third-rate poetry). In this regard, Kavikarṇapūra follows Mammaṭa as usual, but he changed the terms ś岹-citra and artha-citra to ś岹-vaicitrya and artha-vaicitrya (ṅk-kaustubha 1.20-21).
In essence, in ś岹-citra, an ornament of sound is predominant and an ornament of meaning is secondary, whereas in artha-citra, an ornament of meaning is predominant and an ornament of sound is secondary. However, if by nature the ornament of meaning inherently contains an implied sense, such as an implied similarity in a metaphor, the poetry can be considered second-rate (Commentary 5.16).
Footnotes and references:
[2]: