Text 2.13

सारोपान्या तु यत्रोक्तौ विषयी विषयस् तथा ॥ २.११ab ॥

sāropānyā tu yatroktau viṣayī viṣayas tathā ||2.11ab||

sa-āropā—called sāropā (“it has a superimposition”); anyā—another [figurative usage]; tu—(used to express a new beginning); yatra uktau—in which statement; viṣayī—the thing being superimposed unto the object (also called āropyamāṇa and upamāna, the standard of comparison); viṣayaḥ—the subject upon which something is superimposed (also called āropa-viṣaya and upameya, the subject of a comparison); tathā—and.

Another kind of Indication takes place when there is a subject of comparison and a standard of comparison.

yatrāropyamāṇa āropa-viṣayaś ca sphuṭaḥ sā lakṣaṇā sāropā nāma. yathā “gaur vāhīkaḥ” ity-ādau. iha gaur āropyamāṇaḥ, vāhīka āropa-viṣayaḥ. tau dvau vyaktau nirdiṣṭau. atra go-śabdaḥ sādhāraṇa-guṇāśrayaṇena parārthaṃ lakṣayati. tad uktam “abhidheyāvinā-bhūta-pratītir lakṣaṇocyate, lakṣyamāṇa-guṇair yogād vṛtter iṣṭā tu gauṇatā” iti, evam “amṛtaṃ hari-kīrtanam” ity-ādau ca.

The Indication called sāropā (it has a superimposition) is the figurative usage in which the thing being superimposed (viṣayī = āropyamāṇa) (a standard of comparison) and the subject upon which it is superimposed (viṣaya = āropa-viṣaya) are evident. An instance is: gaur vāhīkaḥ (the outsider is an ox). In this example, the ox is the āropyamāṇa (the thing being superimposed) (the upamāna, the standard of comparison) and the outsider is the āropa-viṣaya (the subject upon which it is superimposed) (the upameya, the tenor): Those two are clearly manifest and are pointed out. By referring to a quality in common (stoutness), the word ox indicates another sense (‘like an ox’, i.e. the outsider is stout like an ox). That was stated as follows:

abhidheyāvinā-bhūta-pratītir lakṣaṇocyate |
lakṣyamāṇa-guṇair yogād vṛtter iṣṭā tu gauṇatā ||

“The perception of something connected with the thing denoted by abhidhā is called lakṣaṇā. A qualitative function (gauṇī-vṛtti) is desired on account of a connection with qualities that are being indicated.” (Kumārila Bhaṭṭa’s Tantra-vārttika)^[1]

Another example is: amṛtaṃ hari-kīrtanam, “A kīrtana about Hari is nectar.”

Commentary:

Mammaṭa points out that the word avinā-bhūta in Kumārila Bhaṭṭa’s definition is exactly the same as his term sambandha (connection), the second characteristic of Indication (2.11).^[2]

The phrase gaur vāhīkaḥ really means: vāhīko go-sadṛśo bhavati, “An outsider is like an ox.” P.V. Kāṇe says it means: go-gata-jāḍyasajātīya-jāḍyavān vāhīkaḥ^[3] (an outsider has a dullness that is of the same kind as the dullness of an ox). According to Mammaṭa, the qualities common to both an outsider and an ox are jāḍya (dullness), mandya (slowness), and so on.^[4]

The word vāhīka can also be written bāhīka. It literally means “one who stays outside.” The affix īka[k] is applied after bahis, by the rule: bahiṣaṣ ṭi-lopaś ca yañ ca (Vārttika 4.1.85) (Siddhānta-kaumudī 1077) (bahiṣo bāhya-bāhīkau sādhū, HNV bṛhat 2299).

Dr. Gaṅgānātha Jhā translates vāhīka as “ploughman”.^[5] Similarly, Dr. Satyavrata Siṅgh translates vāhīka as haravāhā (ploughman, farm laborer).^[6] The idea is that someone who works in the fields is obviously out of town. The term vāhīka can also mean “Punjabi”^[7] and “draft animal”.^[8]

Jīva Gosvāmī gives this as an example of guṇa-vṛtti: puruṣaḥ siṃhaḥ, “The man is a lion.”^[9] Unlike other rhetoricians, Jīva Gosvāmī writes the words in proper order. However, the wording “The man is like a lion” (puruṣaḥ siṃha iva) is not in the scope of lakṣaṇā-vṛtti because the word iva, or the like, is used. It is in the scope of abhidhā-vṛtti (Denotation).

Sāropā-lakṣaṇā is the seed of the rūpaka ornament (metaphor), according to Viśvanātha Kavirāja.^[10] Thus there are two kinds of metaphors: theoretical and poetical. The same understanding applies to other ornaments.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The verse also means: “The secondariness of the function is desired on account of a connection with qualities that are being indicated.” In the methodology of poetical theorists before the time of Mammaṭa, Indication was included in Denotation.

[2]:

avinā-bhāvo’tra sambandha-mātraṃ na tu nāntarīyakatvam, tattve hi mañcāḥ krośantītyādau na lakṣaṇā syāt (Kāvya-prakāśa 2.12).

[3]:

Kane, P.V. (1995), The Sāhitya-darpaṇa, p. 58.

[4]:

“gaur vāhīkaḥ” ity atra “gaur ayam” ity atra ca. atra hi svārtha-sahacāriṇo guṇā jāḍya-māndyādayo lakṣyamāṇā api go-śabdasya parārthābhidhāne pravṛtti-nimittatvam upayāntīti kecit (Kāvya-prakāśa 2.12).

[5]:

Jhā, Gaṅgānātha (1985), Kāvya-prakāsha of Mammata, p. 23.

[6]:

“‘gaur vāhīkaḥ’—‘yah haravāhā bail hai’” (Siṅgh, Satyavrata (2009), Kāvya-prakāśaḥ, p. 38).

[7]:

Pāṇini uses the term vāhīka to denote the name of a specific region: vāhīka-grāmebhyaś ca, “and after those who live in a village of Vāhīka” (Aṣṭādhyāyī 4.2.117). Vāhīka is the Punjab (Kane, P.V. (1995), The Sāhitya-darpaṇa, p. 55). Therefore, calling a man from Vāhīka “vāhīka” is conventional figurative usage.

[8]:

In that sense, the word vāhīka is made by adding the suffix [k]īka[n] after the verbal root vah prāpaṇe (to carry) by the rule: alīkādayaś ca, “and alīka and so on [are replacements ending with īka]” (Uṇādi-sūtra 4.26).

[9]:

yathā gauṇyā vṛttyā puruṣaḥ siṃha ity anye (Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa 649).

[10]:

viṣayiṇā anigīrṇasya viṣayasya tenaiva saha tādātmya-pratīti-kṛt sāropā. iyam eva rūpakālaṅkārasya bījam (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 2.8-9); gauṇī-mūla-rūpakādi (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.37).