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...

वक्तृ-बोध्ययोर् ज्ञत्वे स्वयं वा परामर्शेऽप्रतीतत्वं च. क्रमेणोदाहरणम्,

vaktṛ-bodhyayor jñatve svayaṃ vā parāmarśe'pratītatvaṃ ca. krameṇodāharaṇam,

The fault called apratīta (not understood) is actually not a fault either when both the speaker and the hearer are knowledgeable or when a verse is the own cogitation of a speaker (such as soliloquy). Examples are shown in order.

dhyāyatas tava rājarṣe jyotiḥ parama-kaṃ tadā |
tamasātibalenāpi bhaven naiva parābhavaḥ ||

O Rājaṛṣi, while meditating upon the Effulgence which is the topmost happiness, at that time you can never be overcome by tamas although it is very powerful.

atra dvayor jñāna-kāṇḍa-kuśalatvād apratītatvaṃ na doṣaḥ.

Here apratīta (not understood) is not a fault since both of them are experts in the Upaniṣads.

Commentary:

According to the author of Kṛṣṇānandinī, the word “Effulgence” means Brahman, and the term “by tamas” means “by Prakṛti”. He specifies: atrobhayor api śuka-parīkṣitor vedānta-śāstrābhijñatvād apratītāv api jyotis-tamaḥ-śabdau na duṣṭau, “Although those two words are not understood (apratīta) (7.13) (7.33), they are not faulty because both Śuka and Parīkṣit are knowledgeable of the scriptures of Vedānta” (Kṛṣṇānandinī).

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