Text 7.54

उपहत उत्वं प्राप्तो लुप्तो वा विसर्गो यत्र तद् इति द्वयम्. यथा,

upahata utvaṃ prāpto lupto vā visargo yatra tad iti dvayam. yathā,

(2) The fault called upahata-visarga (the change of a visarga to the letter o) is derived as follows: upahata utvaṃ prāpto visargo yatra tat, “a text in which the visarga (ḥ) has changed to u” (upahataḥ = utvaṃ prāptaḥ). (When u combines with a previous a, the result is a change to o.)

(3) The fault called lupta-visarga (deleted visarga) is analyzed as: lupto visargo yatra tat, “that in which a visarga was deleted.” This verse exemplifies both:

śyāmo’bhirāmo ramaṇo dadhāno’vanatiṃ hariḥ | utka unmada uttaptas tad etaṃ sukhayāli he ||

śyāmaḥ—He is dark blue; abhirāmaḥ—very charming; ramaṇaḥ—lover; dadhānaḥ—He is making; avanatim—a gesture of bowing; hariḥ—Hari; utkaḥ—He longs for; unmadaḥ—He is rapturous; uttaptaḥ—hot; tat—therefore; etam—Him; sukhaya—cause to delight; āli—girlfriend; he—O.

Hari, the handsome and seductive dark blue one, is making a respectful gesture to you. He has a longing, He is rapturous, and He is on fire. Therefore, sakhī, make Him happy.

Commentary:

The first half of the verse illustrates upahata-visarga (the change of a visarga to the letter o) because there is an alliteration of the vowel o. In the second half, the result of lupta-visarga (deleted visarga) is an alliteration of the letter u. Mammaṭa frowns upon an alliteration of vowels. Most Sanskrit poetical rhetoricians do. Daṇḍī gave examples of alliterations of vowels, but his vowel alliterations pervade a whole verse. He classes them in the poetical category called duṣkara (“hard to make,” which includes citra-kāvya).^[1] Bhoja followed Daṇḍī by categorizing such a continuous alliteration of vowels in a similar category: svara-citra (amazing because of the vowels) (Sarasvatī-kaṇṭhābharaṇa, illustrations 2.276-283).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

yaḥ svara-sthāna-varṇānāṃ niyamo duṣkareṣv asau |
iṣṭaś catuṣ-prabhṛty eṣa darśyate sukaraḥ paraḥ || (Kāvyādarśa 3.83)