Text 4.84

[The verse illustrates a pada-gata rasa-dhvani,]

तत् कैशोरं तच् च वक्त्रारविन्दं तत् कारुण्यं ते च लीला-कटाक्षाः |
तत् सौन्दर्यं सा च मन्द-स्मित-श्रीः सत्यं सत्यं दुर्लभं दैवते’पि ||

tat kaiśoraṃ tac ca vaktrāravindaṃ tat kāruṇyaṃ te ca līlā-kaṭākṣāḥ |
tat saundaryaṃ sā ca manda-smita-śrīḥ satyaṃ satyaṃ durlabhaṃ daivate’pi ||

tat—that; kaiśoram—youthful adolescence; tat—that; ca—and; vaktra-aravindam—lotus face; tat—that; kāruṇyam—compassion; te—those (or of Yours); ca—and; līlā—playful; kaṭa-akṣāḥ—sidelong glances; tat—that; saundaryam—beauty; sā—that; ca—and; manda—slight; smita—smile; śrīḥ—loveliness; satyam—truly; satyam—truly; durlabham—hard to find; daivate—in a god; api—even.

That youthful adolescence, that lotus face, that compassion, those playful sidelong glances, that beauty, and that loveliness of a slight smile of His are truly, truly hard to find even among the gods. (Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta 55)

atra tad-ādi-padāni kaiśorādīnām anubhavaika-gocaratāṃ vyañjayanti. tādṛśānāṃ ca teṣām agocaratvād vipralambhaḥ prakṛṣyatīti rasa-dhvaniś ca tathā, bhāvādīnāṃ tad-gatatve na kācic camatkṛtir iti nodāhriyate. evam anye’pi lakṣya-vyaṅgya-kramā dhvanayo’nusandheyāḥ. tad evaṃ pañca-triṃśad bhedāḥ.

In this verse, the words ‘that’ and the word ‘those’ suggest this: His youthful adolescence, His lotus face, and so on, were in the scope of the speaker’s personal experience. And since they were not in the scope of the speaker’s personal experience at the time of making that statement, the feeling of separation becomes eminent: This constitutes a vipralambha śṛṅgāra-rasa dhvani. Moreover, there is no astonishment whatsoever when a bhāva, a rasābhāsa, and so on, relates to only one word, therefore such an example is not given. The lakṣya-krama dhvanis as well occur in the same way. Thus there are thirty-five kinds of dhvanis.

Commentary:

The thirty-five varieties are: one kind of ubhaya-śakti-bhū dhvani, seventeen kinds of pada-gata dhvanis and seventeen kinds of vākya-gata dhvanis. The ubhaya-śakti-bhū dhvani and the seventeen broad categories were stated in text 4.77.

This is Mammaṭa’s example:

lāvaṇyaṃ tad asau kāntis tad rūpaṃ sa vacaḥ-kramaḥ |
tadā sudhāspadam abhūd adhunā tu jvaro mahān ||

“That beauty, that radiance, that comeliness of form, and that manner of talking were akin to nectar then, but now a huge fever is occurring” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 75).

Mammaṭa says the verse illustrates the suggestiveness of one word, yet in his elaboration he says the implied sense arises by the suggestiveness of many pronouns.^[1] The gist is that the suggestiveness in each pronoun is of the same kind. Govinda Ṭhakkura says the suggestiveness occurs in the sentence, yet those words are predominant.^[2] Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa adds that here the vyabhicāri-bhāva called smṛti (remembrance) enhances the vipralambha.^[3] Moreover, fever, the vyabhicāri-bhāva called vyādhi (a specific mental agony) (4.40), is one of the stages of vipralambha (Commentary 4.26). Consequently the verse features a vipralambha śṛṅgāra-rasa dhvani.

Mammaṭa gives examples of all seventeen pada-gata dhvanis (an implied arisen from a word). This is his example of a pada-gata kavi-prauḍhokti-siddha vastu that gives rise to a vastu-dhvani,

rātrīṣu candra-dhavalāsu lalitam āsphālya yaś cāpam |
eka-cchatram iva karoti bhuvana-rājyaṃ vijṛmbhamāṇaḥ || (Sanskrit rendering)

“On moonlit nights, he becomes puffed up, brandishes his cute bow, and as if turns the kingdom of the world into a place that has one parasol.”

Mammaṭa elaborates:

atra vastunā yeṣāṃ kāminām asau rājā smaras tebhyo na kaścid api tad-ādeśa-parāṅmukha iti jāgradbhir upabhogaparair eva tair niśātivāhyate iti bhuaṇa-rajja-pada-dyotyaṃ vastu prakāśyate,

“The vastu in the verse suggests the following vastu by means of the word bhuvana-rājya (the kingdom of the world): “Among sensualists, for whom Cupid is the king, no one was averse to following his advice, thus they stayed awake at night and spent their time in taking pleasure”” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 84 vṛtti).

The first vastu, arisen from the word bhuvana-rājya (the kingdom of the world), is the notion that Cupid is a king. This vastu is the Purport (tātparya). Moreover, the word eka-cchatra (one parasol) implies that at night King Cupid is highly revered, since a white parasol is a distinguished accessory of royalty. In this verse, the poet’s bold words (kavi-prauḍhokti) are the form of the utprekṣā ornament (fanciful assumption): “Cupid as if turns the kingdom of the world into a place that has one parasol.” And that also implies the rūpaka ornament (metaphor): The full moon is a white parasol.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

tatra pada-prakāśyatve krameṇodāharaṇāni (Kāvya-prakāśa 4.42); atra tad-ādi-padair anubhavaika-gocarā arthāḥ prakāśyante (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 75 vṛtti).

[2]:

atra vipralambhārthe vākye’nubhavaika-gocaram arthaṃ prakāśayatāṃ tat-padānāṃ prādhānyam (Kāvya-pradīpa).

[3]:

vipralambhārthe vākya iti—vipralambha-vyañjaka-vākya ity arthaḥ. tat-padānām ity upalakṣaṇam, asāv ity adhunety asyāpi. prādhānyam iti, lāvaṇyāder anubhavaika-gocaratvādinā smaraṇasya vipralambha-poṣakatvād iti bhāvaḥ (Uddyota).