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 10.9
यथ�,
त्वत�-पादाभ्या� सम� क्वापि नास्ति चित्�-हर� विभो |
दे� त्वत�-सदृश� हारि कथम् आस्तां जगत्-त्रय� �
ⲹٳ,
tvat-pādābhyā� sama� kvāpi nāsti citta-hara� vibho |
deva tvat-sadṛśa� katham āstā� jagat-traye ||
ٱ-峾—to Your feet; samam—s; kva api—aԲɳ; na asti—there is no; citta—the mind; haram—[a thing] which takes away; vibho—O You who pervade; deva—O Lord; ٱ-ṛśa—similar to You (as the upameya); 첹ԲپԲ; katham—hǷ?; 峾—it could exist; jagat-traye—in the three worlds.
O Lord, Your feet blow me away like nothing else. In the three worlds, You are beyond compare.
Commentary:
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa declines the nominal base tvad-岹 (Your feet) in the third case when the genitive case is expected here, by Mammaṭa’s rule that the genitive case signifies the upameya (10.3).[1] As usual, Kavikarṇapūra follows Mammaṭa.[2] However, Mammaṭa himself digresses from the rule (Commentary 10.14). This makes sense when it is obvious what the upameya is or what the ܱ貹Բ is. By that rule, seen in the works of Daṇḍī, Rudraṭa (Commentary 10.226), and so on, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s example means: “Nothing blows me away like Your feet.� This expresses the nonmention of an upameya. Mammaṭa omitted to created this category.
In grammar, a word connected with tulya and the like takes either the third case or the sixth case,[3] and no distinction of �ܱ貹Բ� and �upameya� is made: 峾ṇa ٳܱⲹ� ṛṣṇa�, rāmasya tulyo vā (Hari-峾峾ṛt-첹ṇa 677 ṛtپ). Mammaṭa complicated the matter. The charm of the complication is apparent when a commentator explains a simile in a compound. For instance, the words ⲹṇa-samo guṇai�, “He is similar to Nārāyaṇa in terms of qualities� (岵ٲ 10.8.19) are analyzed either as nārāyaṇena samo guṇai� or as ⲹṇasya samo guṇai�.[4] By Mammaṭa’s rule, the first interpretation means that Nārāyaṇa is the ܱ貹Բ and ṛṣṇa is the upameya, whereas the second interpretation signifies the opposite. A different sense is implied from each analysis, by the well-known fact that an ܱ貹Բ is superior to an upameya. However, not all commentators respect Mammaṭa’s rule; Sanātana Gosvāmī uses the ܱī formula: guṇādibhir nārāyaṇena �. […] yadvā guṇādibhir ⲹṇa eva samo yasyeti nārāyaṇād api māhātmyam 첹� bodhitam, upamānād upameyasya kiñcit sādṛśya-mātreṇa nyūnatāpatte�, “In terms of qualities and so on, He compares to Nārāyaṇa (ⲹṇa-� = nārāyaṇena �). Alternatively: “His like is Nārāyaṇa� (ⲹṇa-� = ⲹṇa� eva � yasya): In this way it is perceived that His glory is even superior to Nārāyaṇa’s glory, because an upameya has only some similarity to an ܱ貹Բ� (ṛh-ṣṇ-ٴṣaṇ� 10.8.19).
Further, according to Mammaṭa the gist of the elision of the ܱ貹Բ is not that there is no ܱ貹Բ. The idea is simply that the ܱ貹Բ is not mentioned (ԳܱԲ) (10.8).[5] The purpose of this distinction is to avoid a similarity with an implied ananvaya ornament (self-comparison) (10.27). Thus Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s verse illustrates an ananvaya-dhvani.
This is Mammaṭa’s example of an elliptical indirect simile in a sentence characterized by the ellipsis of the standard of comparison (ܱ貹Բ-luptā ārthī -):
sakala-karaṇa-para-viśrāma-śrī-vitaraṇa� na sarasa-屹ⲹsya |
dṛśyate athavā niśamyate sadṛśam aṃśāṃśa-mātreṇa || (Sanskrit rendering)“In the matter of effusing a splendor that obliterates the perception of the external world, relishable poetry compares to nothing that has been seen or heard of, even by a fraction of a fraction� (屹ⲹ-ś, verse 400).
A good movie obliterates the perception of the external world. A movie is an offshoot of dramaturgy, one of the two broad categories of 屹ⲹ (literature). Still, Govinda Ṭhܰ doubts the validity of Mammaṭa’s example. In that line of thought, Nāgeśa ṭṭ says here Mammaṭa disregarded his rule; and poetry is meant to be expressed as the ܱ貹Բ, (standard of comparison), by the model that even if the word “moon� in “moon-like face� were declined in the sixth case, it would still have the force of an ܱ貹Բ, since it is well known as such. Thus according to Nāgeśa ṭṭ here Mammaṭa should have said that the verse features the ellipsis of an upameya. He says Mammaṭa intends to portray poetry as the upameya in order to raise its eminence because by nature the subject of description is an upameya.[6] Śīٲ-ñԲ Bhaṭṭācārya says the standard of comparison which was omitted is: Brahman.[7]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
[3]:
tulyārthair atulopamābhyā� tṛtīyānyatarasyām (ṣṭī 2.3.72).
[4]:
[5]:
ata evopamānānupādāna ity uktam na tv asattva iti, vastv-antarasya viśiṣyānupādānamātreṇopamāna-lopa-ⲹ�. etenānanvayo’trety apāstam. ananvaya upamānāsattvasyaiva vivakṣitatvāt (Uddyota on 屹ⲹ-ś, verse 400).
[6]:
atra viśeṣata ܱ貹Բ� nopāttam. cintyam etat (屹ⲹ-pradīpa); cintyam etad iti, tad-īᲹ� tu 屹ⲹm evātropamānam. candrasya sadṛśa� mukham ity-ādau candrasyaivopamānatāvagamāt. eva� copameya-lopa iti vaktum ucitam iti. ܻ tu 屹ⲹsya samam ity asya 屹ⲹ-niṣṭhasādṛśya-pratiyogīty ٳ�. 屹ⲹsya varṇanīyatayotkarṣāyopameyasya vivakṣitatvād ity āhu� (Uddyota).