Text 5.10

(3) [This verse exemplifies the second-rate implied sense called vācya-siddhi-aṅga (an aspect in the accomplishment of the literal sense):]

गच्छाम्य् अच्युत दर्शनेन भवतः किं तृप्तिर् उत्पद्यते
  किन्त्व् एवं विजन-स्थयोर् हत-जनः सम्भावयत्य् अन्यथा |
इत्य् आमन्त्रण-भङ्गि-सूचित-वृथावस्थान-खेदालसाम्
  आश्लिष्यन् पुलकोत्कराञ्चित-तनुर् गोपीं हरिः पातु वः ||

gacchāmy acyuta darśanena bhavataḥ kiṃ tṛptir utpadyate
  kintv evaṃ vijana-sthayor hata-janaḥ sambhāvayaty anyathā |
ity āmantraṇa-bhaṅgi-sūcita-vṛthāvasthāna-khedālasām
  āśliṣyan pulakotkarāñcita-tanur gopīṃ hariḥ pātu vaḥ ||

gacchāmi—I am going; acyuta—O Acyuta; darśanena bhavataḥ—by seeing You; kim—how; tṛptiḥ—satisfaction; utpadyate—is generated; kintu—however; evam—in this way; vijana-sthayoḥ—[when the two of us] are staying in a solitary place; hata—dumbstruck (or wretched); janaḥ—a person; sambhāvayati—hypothesizes; anyathā—in a different way; iti—(end of the citation) (or in this manner); āmantraṇa—by the speech; bhaṅgi—and by crooked words; sūcita—hinted at; vṛthā—useless; avasthāna—on account of the situation; kheda—due to discouragement; ālasām—who was inactive (immobile); āśliśyan—while embracing; pulaka—of goose bumps; utkara—with a multitude; añcita—was endowed; tanuḥ—He whose body; gopīm—the gopī; hariḥ pātu—may Hari protect; vaḥ—all of you.

“I am going, Acyuta. What satisfaction arises by looking at You? A rogue might wrongly hypothesize since the two of us are in a solitary place.” The gopī remained immobile on account of frustration due to a hopeless situation, which was hinted at with the crooked words in her speech. Hari embraced her, and His body erupted with goose bumps. May He protect you all. (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 127) (Padyāvalī 208)

atrācyutety-ādi-pada-vyāṅgyam āmantraṇety-ādi-vācya-siddhāv aṅgaṃ tad-upapādakatvāt.

Here the implied sense derived from the words “O Acyuta, what satisfaction arises by looking at You?” is an aspect in the accomplishment of the literal meaning: “She remained immobile on account of frustration due to a hopeless situation, which was hinted at with the crooked words in her speech,” because it makes that literal meaning take place.

Commentary:

By definition, in this category, vācya-siddhi-aṅga, the literal sense of a text cannot stand by itself without the implied meaning. Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa says the implied sense is: “Satisfaction does not occur by looking at You. It occurs by having intercourse with You.”^[1] Thus the gopī is frustrated because she expected Him to live up to His reputation: Acyuta is so called because He does not fail to give pleasure to each gopī. For instance, in the context of the Rāsa dance, Viśvanātha Cakravartī writes: acyutaḥ yugapad eva tat-pratyekaṃ ramaṇa-niṣṭhā-cyuti-rahitaḥ, “Acyuta has no letdown (a-cyuta = cyuti-rahita) as regards simultaneously enjoying each one of them” (Sārārtha-darśinī 10.29.43).

Mammaṭa says vācya-siddhi-aṅga has two subdivisions: In the first one, illustrated above, the words of a speaker are followed by the words of the poet and the latter refers to the former. In the second one, exemplified below, there is only one speaker (the poet):

bhramim aratim alasa-hṛdayatāṃ pralayaṃ mūrcchāṃ tamaḥ śarīra-sādam |
maraṇaṃ ca jalada-bhujaga-jaṃ prasahya kurute viṣaṃ viyoginīnām ||

“When women experience vipralambha, the rain (viṣa) (or the poison) generated from serpent clouds forcefully makes their heads spin; renders them apathetic, lethargic in the heart, inert, stuporous, gloomy, and emaciated; and finishes them off” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 126).

Mammaṭa elaborates:

atra hālāhalaṃ vyaṅgyaṃ bhujaga-rūpasya vācyasya siddhi-kṛt,

“Here the implied sense, poison, accomplishes the literal meaning of ‘serpent’” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 126 vṛtti).

The double meaning on the word viṣa (water),^[2] “poison”, is implied. It does not make sense as a literal meaning, thus there is no śleṣa (literal double meaning). That implied sense justifies the metaphor jalada-bhujaga (the clouds are serpents).

Furthermore, a paronomastic causal metaphor in paramparita-rūpaka belongs to the category of vācya-siddhi-aṅga (Commentary 10.57). Mammaṭa’s verse can be interpreted in that way: The one-word metaphor viṣa (poison in the form of rain, i.e. rain is poison) justifies the metaphor “serpent clouds.”

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

vyaṅgyas tu, he’cyuta vijane’smad-vidha-nāyikā-darśane’pi cyuti-rahita bhavato darśanena na tṛptir utpadyate’pi tu sambhogenaiva (Uddyota).

[2]:

viṣam apsu ca, “In the neuter, viṣa also means water” (Amara-koṣa 3.3.222).