Text 7.8

(6) [This verse illustrates anucitārtha (unsuitable meaning):]

बिभर्षि नीलं वसनं यद् एतद् धलं च पाणौ न कथं करोषि |
जानातु लोकस् तव कृष्ण वेषाद् वर्षीयसि भ्रातरि भक्तिमत्त्वम् ||

bibharṣi nīlaṃ vasanaṃ yad etad dhalaṃ ca pāṇau na kathaṃ karoṣi |
jānātu lokas tava kṛṣṇa veṣād varṣīyasi bhrātari bhaktimattvam ||

O Kṛṣṇa, since You’re wearing blue clothes, why don’t You take a plow in Your hand? People should know about Your devotion to Your elder brother. (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 10.14)

atra hala-padaṃ kṛṣi-kāritva-vyañjanād anucitārtham. yathā vā, prayānty amaratāṃ śūrāḥ pāśu-bhūtā raṇādhvare. atra paśu-padaṃ mṛtārthakam api kātarya-vyañjanāt tathā.

Here the word hala (plow) has an unsuitable sense (anucitārtha) because it hints at the occupation of agriculture.^[1]

This is another example of anucitārtha (unsuitable meaning): “Heroic fighters who became animals in the fire sacrifice of war became demigods” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 7.4) (adapted from Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 146). Though it has the sense of ‘death’, in this example the word “animal” is unsuitable because it hints at cowardice.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

However, the Bhāgavatam refers to Balarāma as Halāyudha (He whose weapon is the plow) (10.65.23; 10.68.53; 10.79.16).