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 2.28
एवम् अप्य् अनवस्था स्याद् या मूल-क्षति-कारिणी ॥ २.१७ab ॥
evam apy anavasthā syād yā mūla-kṣati-kāriṇī[1] ||2.17ab||
evam api—even in that way; anavasthā—unstable condition; syāt—might be; yā—which; mūla-kṣati-kāriṇī—makes a defect in the root.
Even then, that instability would occasion a defect in the root of the matter.
evam apīti, phalaṃ cel lakṣyaṃ tarhi tad api phalāntareṇa tad api tad-antareṇety evaṃ mūla-bhūta-phala-lakṣaṇā kṣatir ity arthaḥ.[2]
If the result of purposeful figurative usage were indicated (and not implied), then another result would have to be indicated by that result, and yet another result would have to be indicated by that result, so that there would be a want of the characteristic of the result that is the root of the matter.
Commentary:
The purpose of that second Indication would need to be explained with respect to Mammaṭa’s three-step Indication. The bottom line is that the literal sense of “purity and coolness” is desired. If Indication were applied a second time and if the third-step were applied, this other purpose could be explained only if it were derived from the indicated sense of the literal meaning of “coolness and purity.” There is no need to speak of infinite regress, because this very operation vitiates the root of the matter, in other words the notions of coolness and purity are not taken at face value anymore.