Text 2.33

किञ्च वाच्यार्थ-व्यङ्ग्यार्थयोः “त्वद्-अङ्घ्रि-मूलं भजतां मुकुन्द” इत्य्-आदौ निन्दा-स्तुति-रूपेण स्व-स्वरूपस्य गतोऽस्तम् अर्कः इत्य्-आदौ वाच्य एक-रूपो व्यङ्ग्यस् तु तत्-तत्-प्रतिपत्त्र्-आदिभेदाद् बहु-विध इति सङ्ख्यायाः, वाच्यः शब्दोच्चारण-मात्रेण वेद्यः स तु तथापि तथा-विध-प्रतिभा-नैर्मल्यादिना चेति निमित्तस्य शब्दाश्रयत्वेन शब्द-तद्-एक-देश-तद्-अर्थ-वर्णसङ्घट्टनाश्रयत्वेन चाश्रयस्य प्रतीति-मात्र-चमत्कारयोः करणात् कार्यस्य, “कस्य वा न भवेत् कोपः क्षतं वीक्ष्य प्रियाधरे, आघ्रात-भृङ्गवत्-पद्मे पद्मे दुःखं सहाधुना” इति सखी-तत्-कान्त-गतत्वेन विषयस्य पद-तद्-अर्थ-मात्रनिपुणैः सहृदयैर् एव च वेद्यतया प्रतिपत्तुः केवल-रूपतया चमत्कारितया च प्रतीतेः पूर्व-पश्चाद्-भावेन कालस्य च भेदः. तथा वाचक-व्यञ्जकयोर् अप्य् अर्थापेक्षानपेक्षाभ्यां लक्ष्याद् भेदस् तु पूर्वम् उक्तः.१२१

kiñca vācyārtha-vyaṅgyārthayoḥ “tvad-aṅghri-mūlaṃ bhajatāṃ mukunda” ity-ādau nindā-stuti-rūpeṇa sva-svarūpasya gato'stam arkaḥ ity-ādau vācya eka-rūpo vyaṅgyas tu tat-tat-pratipattr-ādibhedād bahu-vidha iti saṅkhyāyāḥ, vācyaḥ śabdoccāraṇa-mātreṇa vedyaḥ sa tu tathāpi tathā-vidha-pratibhā-nairmalyādinā ceti nimittasya śabdāśrayatvena śabda-tad-eka-deśa-tad-artha-varṇasaṅghaṭṭanāśrayatvena cāśrayasya pratīti-mātra-camatkārayoḥ karaṇāt kāryasya, “kasya vā na bhavet kopaḥ kṣataṃ vīkṣya priyādhare, āghrāta-bhṛṅgavat-padme padme duḥkhaṃ sahādhunā” iti sakhī-tat-kānta-gatatvena viṣayasya pada-tad-artha-mātranipuṇaiḥ sahṛdayair eva ca vedyatayā pratipattuḥ kevala-rūpatayā camatkāritayā ca pratīteḥ pūrva-paścād-bhāvena kālasya ca bhedaḥ. tathā vācaka-vyañjakayor apy arthāpekṣānapekṣābhyāṃ lakṣyād bhedas tu pūrvam uktaḥ.^[1]

The differences between a literal meaning and an implied meaning are as follows: (1) A difference in nature, since sometimes what is expressed is a praise whereas a reproach is implied (or vice versa); an example is “O Mukunda, let those who serve Your feet never become rich so that their subtle bodies may come to an end” (10.138) (this is the vyāja-stuti ornament; here praise is implied from the criticism), (2) A difference in number: A literal meaning, such as: gato’stam arkaḥ, “The sun has set” is one form; an implied sense, however, is manifold because many persons perceive various implied meanings,^[2] (3) A difference in the cause: The literal sense is to be known merely by pronouncing the sounds, but an implied sense is known in that way and in addition by the purity of an insight which is conformable to the actual implied sense; and so on, (4) A difference in basis (the means of communication), since a literal sense is based on the words, but an implied sense is based either on a word, or on a part of a word, or on the meaning of either the word or the part of the word, or on the phonemes, or on the construction (4.87), (5) A difference of effect, because a literal meaning only gives rise to a perception, whereas an implied sense creates astonishment, (6) A difference in scope, because in this passage the literal sense is directed at the wife, but the implied sense is directed at her husband: [A female friend of the wife says to her, in the presence of the latter’s husband:] “The anger of which man would not arise upon seeing a cut on his wife’s lip? O young woman who smelled a lotus with a bee inside! Now bear the pain on the lotus of your lip” (the implied sense is “Her lip was stung by a bee; it was not bitten by her lover,” although the wife’s lip was bitten by her lover)^[3] (7) A difference of perceiver, since the literal sense is known by those who are merely expert in words and in their meanings, but an implied sense can only be known by such experts who are also esthetes, (8) A difference in perception, because a literal sense is only one form whereas an implied meaning causes astonishment although it is not denoted by the words,^[4] and (9) A difference in time, because an implied meaning is perceived after the perception of the literal sense.

A vācaka (literally expressive word) requires a meaning, whereas a vyañjaka (suggestive sound) does not have to be founded upon a literally expressed meaning (since an implied sense can arise only from the phonemes, or from a part of a word, etc.), therefore being literally expressive is not the same as being suggestive. The difference between an indicated sense (lakṣya) and an implied sense was mentioned earlier (2.30).

Commentary:

As regards number 2 above, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa and Mammaṭa take the sentence gato’stam arkaḥ (the sun has set) (lit. the sun went to the Western Mountain) as a dictionary meaning (vācya artha). Viśvanātha Kavirāja agrees: gato’stam arkaḥ ity-ādau ca vācyo’rtha eka eva pratīyate (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 5.2). It is a dead metaphor. The horizon is figuratively called a mountain both at sunset and at sunrise. At sunset the horizon is called asta (or asta-giri), which means western mountain: astaḥ kṣipte paścimādrau (Hema-kośa 2.160), and at sunrise it is called udaya (or udaya-giri), which means the eastern mountain: udayaḥ parvatonnatyoḥ (Hema-kośa 3.512). Those are dictionary meanings.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The last sentence is Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s rewording of: vācakānām arthāpekṣā vyañjakānāṃ tu na tad-apekṣatvam iti na vācakatvam eva vyañjakatvam (Kāvya-prakāśa 5.47): The translation follows this text.

[2]:

The same statement can give rise to diverse implied meanings, based on the specialties of the speaker, of the person addressed, of the context, of the place, and so forth. Mammaṭa explains the implied meanings of the sentence “The sun has set” as follows: (1) “Now is the time to attack the enemy” (if a general is talking to a king), (2) “Now you should go meet your lover” (if a confidante is talking to a woman in love), (3) “He is on the way” (if a confidante is addressing a woman who is expecting her lover to arrive), (4) “Now is the time to relax” (if a laborer is talking to a co-worker), (5) “Now is the time for Gāyatrī” (if a Brāhmaṇa is talking to another), (6) “Don’t go too far” (if a mother addresses her kids), (7) “Make the cows return to the pen” (if a cow herder addresses another), (8) “Close down the shop” (if a merchant is talking to his employees), and (9) “Now the heat will diminish,” and so on (Kāvya-prakāśa 5.47).

[3]:

This is the vyājokti ornament (artful concealment). Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s verse is taken from a verse in a Prakrit language (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 135). Appaya Dīkṣita rewrote Mammaṭa’s verse as his example of vyājokti: kasya vā na bhavet roṣaḥ priyāyāḥ sa-vraṇe’dhare |
sa-bhṛgaṃ padmam āghrāsīr vāritāpi mayādhunā || (Kuvalayānanda 153)

[4]:

Some of those categories overlap. Number 8 is a combination of numbers 4 and 5. In Mammaṭa’s wording, what Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote as number 7 is part of Mammaṭa’s and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s number 5. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s number 8 is taken from Mammaṭa’s words in another context.