Text 2.11

लाक्षणिक-निरूपनाय तद्-उपाधिम् आह,

lākṣaṇika-nirūpanāya tad-upādhim āha,

To describe an indirectly expressive word (lākṣaṇika), he states its characteristics:

mukhyārtha-bādhe tad-yoge rūḍhito’tha prayojanāt |
anyo’rtho lakṣyate yat sā lakṣaṇāropitā kriyā ||2.9||

mukhya-artha—of the main meaning; bādhe—when there is a blockage; tad-yoge—when there is a connection with that [main meaning]; rūḍhitaḥ—because of a convention; atha—or^[1]; prayojanāt—because of a purpose; anyaḥ—another; arthaḥ—meaning; lakṣyate—is indicated; yat—by means of which; sā—that; lakṣaṇā—is figurative usage; āropitā—which is superimposed (it is not inherent); kriyā—an action (operation) (a rhetorical function, i.e. a power^[2]).

When the main meaning is incompatible, lakṣaṇā (Indication, or figurative usage) is the function by means of which another meaning is indicated when there is a connection with the main meaning either by convention or because of a purpose. Lakṣaṇā is an operation that is superimposed unto a word.

“kaliṅgaḥ sāhasikaḥ” ity-ādau deśa-viśeṣādi-rūpārthānāṃ sāhasādy-asambhavāt, “gaṅgāyāṃ ghoṣaḥ prativasati” ity-ādau pravāhādi-rūpārthānāṃ ghoṣādhāratvādy-asambhavāc ca mukhyārtha-bādhāyām ādhārādheya-bhāvādau sāmīpyādau ca sambandhe rūḍheḥ prayojanāc ca hetor mukhyenāmukhyo’nyo ’rtho yayā lakṣyate sā lakṣaṇā nāma kriyā vṛttir artha-niṣṭhāpy arpitā śabde.

tatra rūḍhiḥ prasiddhas tām anusṛtya tat-saṃyukta-puruṣādir anyo’rthaḥ pūrvatra lakṣyate, paratra tu gaṅgā-gata-śaitya-pāvanatvādes taṭādau pratipādanaṃ prayojanaṃ tad uddiśya taṭādir anyo’rthaḥ, sā ceyaṃ jahat-svārthā.

“kuntāḥ praviśanti” ity-ādāv ajahat-svārthā, kunta-dhāri-sahitapraveśāt. “chattriṇo gacchanti” iti chattri-padasyaika-sārthavāhitve lakṣaṇā, tattvena rūpeṇa chattri-tad-anyayor bodhāt. “kākebhyo dadhi rakṣyatām” ity atra kāka-padasya dadhy-upaghātakeṣu lakṣaṇā, tena tan-mātrasya bodhanāt. “so’yaṃ devadattaḥ” ity-ādau jahad-ajahat-svārthā. atra tat-kālaitat-kālayos tyāgāj jahat-svārthā, piṇḍa-mātrasyātyāgād ajahat-svārthā ca. evaṃ “ratho gacchati” ity-ādau ca iyam eva bhāga-lakṣaṇocyate.

In “The Kaliṅga is audacious,” the meaning that a particular region (south of Orissa) is audacious is impossible. In “The cowherd settlement is located on the Ganges,” the meaning that a current is the foundation of a cowherd settlement is impossible. When the main meaning is blocked in that way, and when there is a connection—either because of a convention or because of a purpose—like the relation of “container and contained” (a country and its citizens) or like proximity (the Ganges and its shore), and so on, that by means of which (yat = yayā) another meaning, which is not the main one, is indicated by the main meaning is the operation, i.e. the rhetorical function (kriyā = vṛtti), called lakṣaṇā. Although lakṣaṇā is based on the meaning, lakṣaṇā is superimposed unto a word (arpitā = śabde arpitā) (it is not inherent).

Of the two, rūḍhi is defined as a conventional meaning. In conformity with that, in “The Kaliṅga is audacious” the other meaning is a man who is related to that place (the Kaliṅga means the man from Kaliṅga). However, in “The cowherd settlement is located on the Ganges,” the other sense is the shore, by pointing out the purpose, which consists in propounding the notions that coolness and purity, which relate to the Ganges, are on the shore, and so on.^[3]

In both examples, the figurative usage is jahat-svārthā (the literal meaning is obliterated).

In an example like “The spears enter,” the figurative usage is ajahat-svārthā (the meaning of ‘spears’ is not obliterated), because the spears enter along with those who hold them.

In the sentence: “Those who have umbrellas are going,” the figurative usage, which occurs when the word chattrin conveys one meaningful element (a person who has an umbrella), takes place from understanding, as the true nature of the statement, both those who have an umbrella and those who do not (this is ajahat-svārthā).

In the example, “The yogurt should be safeguarded from crows,” the word crow indirectly refers to those who can spoil the yogurt, thus Indication occurs since the word crow makes one understand all those who can spoil the yogurt (this kind of ajahat-svārthā is also called upalakṣaṇā, a partial indication).

In an example such as: so’yaṃ devadattaḥ (that Devadatta is this one), the figurative usage is jahad-ajahat-svārthā. The figurative usage is jahat-svārthā since the meanings of ‘that former time’ and ‘this present time’ cease, and it is ajahat-svārthā because there is no relinquishment of the notion of the solid mass that he is. Similarly, an example like “The chariot is moving” is jahad-ajahat-svārthā. This particular one (jahad-ajahat-svārthā lakṣaṇā) is called bhāga-lakṣaṇā (partial figurative usage).

Commentary:

In Sanskrit poetics, three conditions must be met for Indication to take place: (1) mukhyārtha-bādha, the main meaning is incompatible, (2) tad-yoga (or tat-sambandha), the indirect meaning has a connection with the main meaning, and (3) rūḍhi-prayojanānyataratvam, either it is a conventional usage or it is purposeful. Here Mammaṭa writes: prayojanaṃ hi vyañjanavyāpāra-gamyam eva, “The purpose is only understood through the rhetorical function called vyañjanam (also named vyañjanā) (Suggestiveness)” (Kāvya-prakāśa 2.13). Ānandavardhana said that in poetry, figurative usage should be purposeful.^[4] Moreover, Abhinavagupta indicates that a conventional meaning does not always have a connection with the main meaning.^[5] This was shown in some examples of rūḍha words (2.10).

Mammaṭa does not mention the example so’yaṃ devadattaḥ, “This one is that Devadatta.” The idea therein is as follows: As a stylish manner of speaking, “that Devadatta of the old days” is contrasted with “this Devadatta seen right now,” as if Devadatta were two different persons. The topic is conventional figurative usage because there is no implied sense. Jīva Gosvāmī gives “so’yaṃ devadattaḥ” as an example of jahad-ajahat-svārthā lakṣaṇā (Sarva-saṃvādinī 11.47 of Tattva-sandarbha). Rāmānuja does not accept that it is figurative usage: iti cen naitad evam. so’yaṃ devadatta ity atrāpi lakṣaṇā-gandho na vidyate, virodhābhāvāt. ekasya bhūta-vartamāna-kriyā-dvaya-sambandho na viruddhaḥ, “There is no scent of figurative usage in so’yaṃ devadattaḥ because there is no incompatibility. The connection of the same one with two actions, one of the past and one of the present, is not contradictory” (Vedārtha-saṅgraha 25): In this interpretation, the expression so’yaṃ devadattaḥ is best rendered as: “This is the same Devadatta.”

The example “The chariot moves”, taken from Alaṅkārakaustubha, is ajahat-svārthā like “The spears enter” since the chariot indicates the horses that pull it, but Kavikarṇapūra writes: ratho gacchatīty atra jahad-ajahat-svārthā, svākarṣaka-gamanena śakya-sambandhāt sva-kartṛka-gamanābhāvād aṃśato jahat-svārthā gamanāṃśenājahat-svārthā, “In the sentence “The chariot moves”, the figurative usage is jahad-ajahat-svārthā. It is partially jahat-svārthā (i.e. the chariot indicates the horse that pulls it) because a chariot cannot possibly move by itself and because there is a connection with the literal meaning due to the movement of the puller of the chariot, and it is partially ajahat-svārthā on account of the movement (the sense of “it moves” is unchanged)” (Alaṅkārakaustubha 2.17). Alternatively, the expression “The chariot moves” is a common expression, called a dead metaphor in English: In other words, the figurative usage is so common that it has become literal.^[6] Another example is “The sun has set” (Commentary 2.33).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Here the word atha is used in the sense of vikalpa (alternative), by the definition: athātho saṃśaye syātām adhikāre ca maṅgale, vikalpānantara-praśna-kārtsnyārambha-samuccaye, “Atha and atho are used in the senses of saṃśaya (doubt), adhikāra (topic), maṅgalam (auspiciousness), vikalpa (possibility), anantaram (afterward), praśna (question), kārtsnya (entirety), ārambha (beginning), and samuccaya (conjunction, ‘and’)” (Medinī-kośa).

[2]:

Viśvanātha Kavirāja glosses kriyā as śaktiḥ (Kāvya-prakāśa-darpaṇa 2.9). On account of the meter, the word kriyā is used instead of vyāpāra or vṛtti.

[3]:

“The purpose” means “the implied sense”. Here the implied sense is that there is much coolness and purity in that cowherd settlement. Viśvanātha Kavirāja expounds: gaṅgā-taṭe ghoṣa iti pratipādanālabhyasya śītatva-pāvanatvātiśayasya bodhana-rūpaṃ prayojanam, “The purpose is in the form of making one understand the profuseness of coolness and purity. The idea of such an intensity is not achieved by the wording: “The cowherd settlement is located on the shore of the Ganges”” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 2.5).

[4]:

tatra hi cārutvātiśaya-viśiṣṭārtha-prakāśana-lakṣaṇe prayojane kartavye (Dhvanyāloka 1.17). Moreover, Ānandavardhana writes: guṇa-vṛttir hi vyañjakatva-śūnyāpi dṛśyate, “Sometimes it is seen that guṇa-vṛtti is devoid of suggestiveness” (Dhvanyāloka 3.33). The poetical theorists before the time of Mammaṭa used the term guṇa-vṛtti, a synonym of gauṇī-vṛtti, instead of lakṣaṇā-vṛtti.

[5]:

lāvaṇyādyā ye śabdāḥ sva-viṣayāl lavaṇa-rasa-yuktatvādeḥ svārthād anyatra hṛdyatvādau rūḍhāḥ, rūḍhatvād eva tritaya-sannidhy-apekṣaṇa-vyavadhāna-śūnyāḥ. (Locana 1.16)

[6]:

“A dead metaphor is a figure of speech which has lost its original imagery of its meaning owing to extensive, repetitive popular usage. Because dead metaphors have a conventional meaning that differs from the original, they can be understood without knowing their earlier connotation.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_metaphor) (retrieved 12-9-2014)