Text 3.2

इदानीं सा कीदृशीत्य् उच्यते,

idānīṃ sā kīdṛśīty ucyate,

“What exactly is Suggestiveness related to a meaning?” Therefore it is said:

vaktṛ-boddhavya-kākūnāṃ vākya-vācyānya-sannidheḥ ||3.21cd||
prastāva-deśa-kālāder vaiśiṣṭyāt pratibhā-juṣām |
yo’rthasyānyārtha-dhī-hetur vyāpāro vyaktir eva sā ||3.22||

vaktṛ-boddhavya-kākūnām—(see below); vākya-vācya-anya-sannidheḥ—(see below); prastāva-deśa-kāla-ādeḥ—(see below); vaiśiṣṭyāt—because of the specialty (the suggestive specialty); pratibhā-juṣām—[the thought] of those who have insight; yaḥ—which [function]; arthasya—related to a meaning (whether literal, indirect, or suggestive^[1]); anya-artha-dhī—of the thought of another sense; hetuḥ—the cause; vyāpāraḥ—the rhetorical function (the power^[2]); vyaktiḥ—Suggestiveness^[3]; eva—same (or only, i.e. not inference); sā—that one.

That Suggestiveness is a meaning’s power which is the cause of the thought, in those who have insight, of another sense, owing to a suggestive specialty. The specialties are: (1) the speaker (vaktṛ), (2) the person addressed (boddhavya), (3) the modulation of the tone of voice (kāku), (4) the real statement (vākya), (5) the literal meaning (vācya), (6) the proximity of someone else or of something else (anya-sannidhi), (7) the context (prastāva), (8) the place (deśa), (9) the time (kāla), and so on.

vaktrādi-vailakṣaṇyāt pratibhā-juṣāṃ yo’rthāntara-janako ’rtha-trayasya vyāpāraḥ sārthī vyañjanā. boddhavyaḥ pratipādyaḥ. kākur dhvaner vikāraḥ. anyo vaktṛ-bodhyābhyām. prastāvaḥ prakaraṇam. deśo vijanādiḥ. kālo vasantādiḥ. pratibhā vāsanā-viśeṣaḥ.

Suggestiveness related to the meaning is a function of one of the three kinds of meanings (literal, indirect, implied). That function produces an additional sense, owing to the distinctiveness of the speaker, and so on, in those who have insight, i.e. in those who have the specific predisposition (pratibhā = vāsanā-viśeṣa).

Boddhavya means pratipādya (the person who is addressed). Kāku is a change of tone of voice. “The proximity of someone else” means “the proximity of someone who is other than both the speaker and the person who is addressed.”^[4] Prastāva (occasion) means prakaraṇam (context). Deśa (place) denotes a solitary place, and so forth. Kāla (time) denotes springtime, and so on.

Commentary:

Suggestiveness, a kind of intuitive intelligence, becomes activated in the mind only if the reader or hearer has the appropriate insight (pratibhā), which arises due to the specific predisposition (vāsanā). In other contexts, the term pratibhā means “creative intelligence” and denotes a poet’s creative genius (1.5). Suggestiveness is a rhetorical function attributed to words and meanings, for the sake of convenience. It is superimposed on them much like Indication is (2.11).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mammaṭa explains arthasya as: vācya-lakṣya-vyaṅgyātmanaḥ (Kāvya-prakāśa 3.22).

[2]:

Mammaṭa, Kavikarṇapūra and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa use the term śakti only for abhidhā, but Viśvanātha Kavirāja always explains the term vyāpāra, a synonym of vṛtti (function),as śakti (force, power) (Commentary 2.23). This usage was applied in the above translation(“Suggestiveness is a meaning’s power”). In simple terms, it is an operation (kriyā) related to a word (2.11).

[3]:

vyajyate anayeti vyaktir vyañjanā, “Vyakti means vyañjanā (Suggestiveness), by the derivation: “Revealing is done by means of this”” (Kāvya-prakaśa-darpaṇa 3.22).

[4]:

That is wrong. This text is not in Mammaṭa’s elaboration.Mammaṭa’s example of anya-sannidhi-vaiśiṣṭya (the specialty of someone else) is shown in the next Commentary. In Viśvanātha Kavirāja’s example of anya-sannidhi-vaiśiṣṭya, the other person is the person who is addressed. For this reason, Kavikarṇapūra completely disregarded the category of anya-sannidhi-vaiśiṣṭya.