Text 6.3

[This verse illustrates artha-citra (amazing because of the literal meanings):]

आम्नाय-प्रथितान्वया स्मृतिमती बाढं षड्-अङ्गोज्ज्वला
  न्यायेनानुगता पुराण-सुहृदा मीमांसया मण्डिता |
त्वां लब्धावसरा चिराद् गुरु-कुले प्रेक्ष्य स्व-सङ्गार्थिनं
  विद्या नाम वधूश् चतुर्दश-गुणा गोविन्द शुश्रूषते ||

āmnāya-prathitānvayā smṛtimatī bāḍhaṃ ṣaḍ-aṅgojjvalā
  nyāyenānugatā purāṇa-suhṛdā mīmāṃsayā maṇḍitā |
tvāṃ labdhāvasarā cirād guru-kule prekṣya sva-saṅgārthinaṃ
  vidyā nāma vadhūś caturdaśa-guṇā govinda śuśrūṣate ||

āmnāya-prathita-anvayā—whose development is expanded by means of the Vedas (or whose lineage was spread by means of good traditional family customs); smṛti-matī—it is endowed with Manu-smṛti and so on (or she has good memory); bāḍham—assuredly; ṣaḍ-aṅga-ujjvalā—effulgent with the six Vedāṅgas (or she has resplendence in six limbs: head, waist, two hands and two feet^[1]); nyāyena anugatā—followed by the scriptures on logic (or attended by good behavior: nyāya = nīti); purāṇa-suhṛdā—with assistants named the Purāṇas (or with elders and friends); mīmāṃsayā—by Mīmāṃsā (or by the desire to know^[2]); maṇḍitā—adorned; tvām—You; labdha-avasarā—by whom an opportunity was obtained; cirāt—after a long time; guru-kule—in school (or in the clan of elders); prekṣya—after seeing; sva-saṅga-arthinam—[You,] who desire her association; vidyā—knowledge; nāma—named; vadhūḥ—the young woman; caturdaśa-guṇā—who has fourteen qualities (4 Vedas, the smṛtis, 6 Vedāṅgas, and Nyāya, Purāṇas, and Mīmāṃsā) (or she has the best fourteen qualities out of the twenty-four guṇas of Nyāya^[3]); govinda—O Govinda; śuśrūṣate—serves (“desires to hear”).^[4]

[Siddhas and Cāraṇas praise Śrī Kṛṣṇa:]

O Govinda, the young woman named Knowledge has at last obtained an opportunity. Seeing You in school, she is serving You, who are eager for her association. She has these fourteen qualities: Her development is expanded by means of the four Vedas, she is endowed with the smṛtis, she is effulgent with the six Vedāṅgas, she is attended by Nyāya, and she is adorned by assistants, the Purāṇas, and by Mīmāṃsā.

Alternatively: O Govinda, seeing You in the company of Your parents, the young woman named Knowledge has obtained an opportunity after a long time and desires to hear from You, who are eager for her association. She has fourteen qualities. Indeed, her lineage has spread by means of good traditional family customs, she has good memory, she has high resplendence in six limbs, she has good behavior, she is attended by elders and by friends, and she is adorned with the desire to know. (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.77)

pūrvatra śabda-kṛtaṃ cārutvaṃ prādhānyād anubhūyate, paratra tv artha-kṛtaṃ tat. iha rasādi-rūpasya vyaṅgyasya sphuṭam apratyayād avyaṅgyam etat kāvya-dvayam uktam. vastutas tu vibhāvādirūpatayā sarvatra rasa-paryavasāyitāsti.

In the previous verse, the beauty, made by the sounds, was perceived in terms of being predominant, but in this verse the beauty is made by the meanings.

The two subdivisions of third-rate poetry have no implied sense insofar as there is no clear suggestion of an implied sense which is the form of a rasa-ādi. In truth, however, since literal ideas are the forms of vibhāvas and so on, there is always a culmination of a rasa.

Commentary:

The verse features a saṃsṛṣṭi (independent mix of ornaments) of rūpaka (metaphor) and śleṣa (literal double meaning). The author of Kṛṣṇānandinī explains:

atra vidyā nāma vadhūr ity arthālaṅkāro rūpakam, tasya prathama-pratītatvāt prādhānyam, śleṣasya tu tad-upapādakatvād gauṇyam ity arthaḥ,

“The metaphor is vidyā nāma vadhūḥ (the young woman named Knowledge). It is predominant because it is perceived first. The śleṣa is secondary because it justifies the metaphor” (Kṛṣṇānandinī).

This is Mammaṭa’s example of artha-citra (amazing because of the meanings):

te dṛṣṭi-mātra-patitā api kasya nātra kṣobhāya pakṣmala-dṛśām alakāḥ khalāś ca |
nīcāḥ sadaiva sa-vilāsam alīka-lagnā ye kālatāṃ kuṭilatām iva na tyajanti ||

“Who in this world is not taken aback by the splendid curly hair of women with beautiful eyebrows and by wicked people—even when they fall on the eyes (or the minute they are seen) (dṛṣṭi-mātra-patita)? Both are low (nīca). The curls always resplendently adhere to the forehead (sa-vilāsam alīka-lagna) (as for wicked people: they are always playfully addicted to lying). They do not give up their darkness nor their crookedness (kālatā) (kuṭilatā)” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 140).

The verse features the artha-śleṣa ornament (one literal meaning applies to two things) (the puns on: nīca, kālatā, kuṭilatā, etc.) and śleṣa (literal double meaning of the word alīka, etc.). Mammaṭa does not value the implied simile (curls of women are like wicked people), which could be classed as second-rate since it is not as beautiful as the literal meaning of the text (asundara) (5.15). Or else this simile is a third-rate implied sense because it is not intended to be emphasized. Other examples of third-rate poetry were shown in texts 1.13 and 1.14.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

ṣaḍ-aṅgāni śiro-madhya-bhāgau hastau pādau ceti (Durgama-saṅgamanī).

[2]:

In the etymological explanation of the word mīmāṃsā, the desiderative suffix is applied after the verbal root man[u] bodhane (8A) (to know, understand).

[3]:

The twenty-four guṇas of Nyāya are: form / color (rūpam), taste (rasa), odor (gandha), touch (sparśa), number (saṅkhyā), measurement (parimāṇa), separateness (pṛthaktvam), contact (saṃyoga), disjunction (i.e. that which removes contact) (vibhāga), remoteness (paratvam), proximity (aparatvam), heaviness (gurutvam), fluidity (dravatvam), viscosity (sneha), sound (śabda), cognition (buddhi, jñānam), happiness (sukham), unhappiness (duḥkham), desire (icchā), dislike (dveṣa), effort (prayatna), moral codes (dharma), absence of moral codes (adharma), and impressions arising from karma (saṃskāra). A good woman does not have the following ten: odor, separateness, disjunction, remoteness, heaviness, fluidity, unhappiness, dislike, absence of moral codes, and impressions from karma.

[4]:

The verbal base śuśrūṣa is formed by adding the desiderative suffix in the sense of upāsana (service), by the rule: upāsane’pi śruvaḥ (Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa 580).