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...
Text 10.271
दीव्यन्ती शम्भु-मुकुटे गङ्गेव त्वत्-पदाम्बुजे ।
महितेहित-लाभाय तनुताम् ईश मे शुभम् ॥
dīvyantī śambhu-mukuṭe gaṅgeva tvat-padāmbuje |
mahitehita-lābhāya tanutām īśa me śubham ||
O Lord, may Your beautiful lotus-like feet, which are revered for the acquisition of benefits (mahite hita-lābhāya), bring about my auspiciousness, like the Ganges, which is beautiful above Śambhu’s head and which is revered for the fulfillment of desires (mahitā īhita-lābhāya), should bring about my auspiciousness.
Commentary:
The upameya, the feet, is in the dual (neuter), and the upamāna, the Ganges, is in the singular (feminine), yet there is no fault because the common attributes are paronomastic, so that the same grammatical form applies to both: (1) The present participle dīvyantī (shining, i.e. beautiful) is the same form in the neuter first case dual and in the feminine first case singular, (2) The verb tanutām, in the imperative tense, is the same form in the third person dual of the parasmaipada and in third person singular of the ātmanepada, and (3) The word mahite in the modifier mahite hita-lābhāya is in the neuter dual case singular whereas the word mahitā in mahitehita-lābhāya is in the feminine first case singular. Thus the verse features a liṅga-śleṣa (double meaning based on the gender) and a vacana-śleṣa (double meaning based on the number).