Text 6.1

अथ शब्दार्थ-चित्रयोर् एकत्रैव गुण-प्रधान-भावेन स्थितिर् इति,
शब्दार्थालङ्कारौ द्वाव् अपि स्वाभीष्टाव् इति च बोधयितुम् आरम्भः,

atha śabdārtha-citrayor ekatraiva guṇa-pradhāna-bhāvena sthitir iti,
śabdārthālaṅkārau dvāv api svābhīṣṭāv iti ca bodhayitum ārambhaḥ,

The purpose of the following preliminary sūtra is to make one understand two things: (1) In śabda-citra (amazing because of the sounds) and in artha-citra (amazing because of the literal meaning), only one, either the sound or the meaning, is predominant, while the other is secondary, and (2) In poetry, ornaments of sound and ornaments of meaning are highly desired:

śabdārtha-citraṃ yat pūrvaṃ kāvya-dvayam udāhṛtam |
guṇa-prādhānyatas tatra sthitiś citrārtha-śabdayoḥ ||6.48||

śabda-artha-citram—called śabda-citra and artha-citra; yat—which [pair]; pūrvam—earlier; kāvya-dvayam—the pair of poetries; udāhṛtam—exemplified; guṇa-prādhānyataḥ—in terms of the predominance of the quality; tatra—in that [pair]; sthitiḥ—the occurrence; citra-artha-śabdayoḥ—of an amazing meaning and of an amazing sound.

In the two subvarieties of third-rate poetry, called śabda-citra and artha-citra, mentioned earlier (1.12), an amazing sound is predominant in śabda-citra and is secondary in artha-citra, whereas an amazing meaning is predominant in artha-citra and is secondary in śabda-citra.

yatra śabdasya citratvaṃ pradhānaṃ tatrārthasya gauṇaṃ tat, yatra tv arthasya pradhānaṃ tatra śabdasya gauṇam ity arthaḥ.

The gist is this: When the amazingness of the sound is predominant, the meaning is secondary, but when the amazingness of the meaning is predominant, the sound is secondary.

Commentary:

This chapter expounds third-rate poetry. Chapters nine and ten are offshoots since they illustrate the ornaments of sound and the ornaments of meaning. Thus chapter nine treats of śabda-citra and chapter ten of artha-citra, for the most part: Many ornaments of meaning are actually second-rate poetry because they inherently contain a second-rate implied sense (Commentary 5.16). Numerous ornaments are based on an implied simile, and many others are founded on a specific type of implied idea. Moreover, Mammaṭa’s examples of ornaments of meaning do not clearly illustrate either second-rate poetry or third-rate poetry. In the chapter on ornaments of meaning, Mammaṭa writes: “In the illustrative examples of ornaments, it doesn’t matter if a first-rate rasa-dhvani is present or if another ornament also takes place, otherwise the examples would be tasteless. Therefore the discrepancy should not be emphasized.”^[1]

By definition, third-rate poetry does not feature a rasa. Mammaṭa explains: citram iti guṇālaṅkāra-yuktam. avyaṅgyam iti sphuṭa-pratīyamānārtha-rahitam, “The category called citra means the poetry has a guṇa and an alaṅkāra. “It has no implied sense” means there is no clear implied sense” (Kāvya-prakāśa 1.5) (1.12). Mammaṭa specifies that “without an implied sense” signifies that a rasa does not stand out: yadyapi sarvatra kāvye’ntato vibhāvādi-rūpatayaiva paryavasānam, tathāpi sphuṭasya rasasyānupalambhād avyaṅgyam etat kāvya-dvayam uktam, “Although in every instance in poetry, in the end a culmination takes place only as the forms of uddīpanas (stimuli) and so forth (so that a sthāyi-bhāva might be implied), nonetheless third-rate poetry, which has two kinds, has no implied sense inasmuch as there is no obtainment of a clear rasa” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 140 vṛtti).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

rasādis tu vyaṅgyo’rtho’laṅkārāntaraṃ ca sarvatrāvyabhicārīty agaṇayitvaiva tad-alaṅkārā udāhṛtāḥ. tad-rahitatvena tu, udāhriyamāṇā virasatām āvahantīti pūrvāpara-viruddhābhidhānam iti na codanīyam (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 396 vṛtti).