Text 4.5

[The two varieties of dhvanis based on Denotation are as follows:]

को'प्य् अलक्ष्य-क्रम-व्यङ्ग्यो लक्ष्य-व्यङ्ग्य-क्रमः परः ॥ ४.२५cd ॥

ko'py alakṣya-krama-vyaṅgyo lakṣya-vyaṅgya-kramaḥ paraḥ ||4.25cd||

kaḥ api—some particular one (some extraordinary one^[1]); alakṣya—is unnoticed; krama—whose sequence (the sequence of the rise of the perception of which); vyaṅgyaḥ—an implied meaning; lakṣya-vyaṅgya-kramaḥ—the sequence of the implied meaning is noticed^[2]; paraḥ—the other one.

One is alakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya (the sequence of the implied sense is unnoticed), and the other is lakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya (the sequence of the implied sense is noticed).

alakṣyeti, na khalu vibhāvādayo rasaḥ, kintu rasas tair abhivyajyata ity asti yadyapi kramas tathāpi sa na lakṣyate lāghavāt, yugapat-padma-pattra-śata-vedha-vat.

The term alakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya means a rasa and the like (4.6). In that regard, it is not that vibhāva and other elements are the rasa. Rather, the rasa is manifested by means of them. Therefore, although there is a sequence, it is not noticed, since it is subtle. It is like simultaneously piercing one hundred lotus petals with a needle.

Commentary:

A rasa is called alakṣya-krama because a reader of poetry or a spectator of a play does not fully notice the sequence of the rise of a rasa in his or her mind. This type of dhvani is expounded from here to text 4.58.

The dhvani called lakṣya-krama is either a vastu-dhvani (implied idea) or an alaṅkāra-dhvani (implied ornament). Thus there are three kinds of dhvanis (implied sense): (1) rasa-ādi-dhvani (rasa-dhvani for short), (2) vastu-dhvani and (3) alaṅkāra-dhvani. Each one is either first-rate or second-rate. A rasa is always implied, thus it is called rasa-dhvani. The term vastu (idea) is a fancy word for artha (meaning): vastu-bhūto’rthaḥ, “the meaning which is a vastu” (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 3.19).

According to Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa, the lakṣya-krama dhvani is so called because the sequence between the understanding of the literal meaning of the text and the understanding of the implied sense is clearly perceived. He specifies that in terms of strikingness, a rasādi-dhvani is superior to a vastu-dhvani and to an alaṅkāra-dhvani.^[3] Mammaṭa and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa illustrate the categories of alakṣya-krama and lakṣya-krama by this sequence because sometimes a vastu-dhvani or an alaṅkāra-dhvani is in the purview of a rasa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa explains: ko’pīti, anirvacanīya-camatkāra-kārīty arthaḥ, “Ko’pi means an alakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya that generates an indescribable astonishment”(Uddyota 4.25).

[2]:

In conformity with the meter, in the above sūtra (Kāvya-prakāśa 4.25) Mammaṭa wrote lakṣya-vyaṅgya-krama instead of lakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya, where the fifth syllable of the anuṣṭup meter is long although it should be short. Consequently, in the translation the order of the words was changed to lakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya. In his commentary, Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa uses the term lakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya. In Kāvya-prakāśa 4.37 (Sāhitya-kaumudī 4.58), Mammaṭa writes saṃlakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya. In his commentary here Viśvanātha Kavirāja says the above two categories are actually called asaṃlakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya and saṃlakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa uses those terms ahead.The wording lakṣya-vyaṅgya-krama refers to first-rate poetry (in which the sequence of the implied sense is noticed) whereas the wording lakṣya-krama-vyaṅgya refers to a first-rate implied sense (in regard to which the sequence is not noticed) (4.58).

[3]:

Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa comments: rasodbodha eva cittākarṣako na vastv-alaṅkārayor ity atra sahṛdaya-hṛdayam eva sākṣīti vastv-alaṅkāra-dhvani-viṣaye lakṣyatvaṃ kramasya bodhyaṃ. tatra ca vācyārtha-bodha-vyaṅgyārtha-bodhayoḥ kramaḥ sphuṭa eveti dik (Uddyota 4.25).