Text 8.20

अथ माधुर्यादीनां त्रयाणां वञ्जका वर्णादयो दर्श्यन्ते,

atha mādhuryādīnāṃ trayāṇāṃ vañjakā varṇādayo darśyante,

Now the phonemes and so on which are suggestive of the three, beginning from mādhurya, are illustrated:

varṇāḥ samāso racanās teṣāṃ vyañjakatām itāḥ ||8.73cd||

varṇāḥ—the phonemes; samāsaḥ—compounding; racanāḥ—the construction (the phonetic combinations^[1]); teṣām—of those three [guṇas, figuratively called śabda-guṇas]; vyañjakatām—the state of being suggestive; itāḥ—attain.

The phonemes (varṇa), the compounding (samāsa), and the phonetic combinations (racanā) become suggestive of those three.

Commentary:

This sūtra explains that a construction is threefold: (1) the type of phonemes, (2) the style of compounding, and (3) the phonetic combinations. The drift is: The construction of mādhurya-guṇa evokes the real mādhurya-guṇa (the quality of śṛṅgāra-rasa, etc.), the construction of ojas guṇa evokes the real ojas guṇa (the quality of raudra-rasa, etc.), and the compounding as well as the phonetic combinations which are characterized by prasāda-guṇa (clarity) evoke the real prasāda-guṇa (the quality of all the rasas, satisfaction). By the maxim: prādhānyena vyapadeśā bhavanti, “Designations are made according to the majority of cases (or according to what is prominent),”^[2] in this sūtra the mention of phonemes only applies to mādhurya and to ojas (8.25 vṛtti).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

In text 4.87, it was said that the rasas are also implied in an aspect of a word (padāṃśa), in the construction (racanā), and in the phonemes (varṇa). In that text, the term racanā means “the style of compounding” and “the phonetic combinations”. That dual sense is the same in the elaboration of text 8.10. Here, however, the term racanā (construction) only means “phonetic combination” because the style of compounding is mentioned separately. Commenting on the corresponding passage in Sāhitya-darpaṇa, Maheśvara Bhaṭṭa explains racanā (construction) as sandhi (phonetic combination): racanā sandhiḥ tasya ca tad-utpanna-varṇa-mādhurya-vaśād eva mādhurya-varṇatvena prāptāvapi sandhau api tādṛśā varṇaḥ na ūhādyā iti kavy-upadeśārthaṃ pṛthag uktam (Vijñapriyā 8.8). Moreover, on occasion the term racanā means the threefold construction.

[2]:

Mammaṭa used that maxim in another context: yadyapi sa nāsti kaścid viṣayaḥ yatra dhvani-guṇībhūta-vyaṅgyayoḥ sva-prabhedādibhiḥ saha saṅkaraḥ saṃsṛṣṭir vā nāsti tathāpi prādhānyena vyapadeśā bhavantīti kvacit kenacid vyavahāraḥ (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 123 vṛtti).