Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana
by Gaurapada Dāsa | 2015 | 234,703 words
Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s Sahitya-kaumudi covers all aspects of poetical theory except the topic of dramaturgy. All the definitions of poetical concepts are taken from Mammata’s Kavya-prakasha, the most authoritative work on Sanskrit poetical rhetoric. Baladeva Vidyabhushana added the eleventh chapter, where he expounds additional ornaments from Visv...
Text 6.5
यथा वा,
yathā vā,
This is another example of paramottama-kāvya (superexcellent poetry):
tiryak-kṣipta-calad-dṛg-añcala-rucir lāsyollasad-bhrū-latā
kundābha-smita-candrikojjvala-mukhī gaṇḍocchalat-kuṇḍalā |
kandarpāgama-siddha-mantra-gahanām ardhaṃ duhānā giraṃ
hāriṇy adya harer jahāra hṛdayaṃ rādhā vilāsormibhiḥ ||
tiryak—obliquely; kṣipta—is cast; calat—moving; dṛk-añcala—from the corners of the eyes; ruciḥ—She whose splendor; lāsya—with a dance; ullasat—which are highly resplendent; bhrū-latā—She has creepers in the form of brows; kunda—jasmines; ābha—which resembles; smita—on account of a smile; candrikā—[like] moonlight; ujjvala—is shining; mukhī—She whose face; gaṇḍa—on the cheeks; ucchalat—are going upward; kuṇḍalā—She whose earrings; kandarpa-āgama—in the kāma-śāstras (the treatises on the art of lust); siddha-mantra—like a perfect mantra; gahanām—[speech,] which is profound; ardham—halfway; duhānā—while filling (uttering[1]); giram—speech; hāriṇī—She has a pearl necklace (or She is ravishing); adya—today; hareḥ—Hari; jahāra—stole; hṛdayam—the heart; rādhā—Rādhā; vilāsa—of the vilāsa ornament (facial expressions); ūrmibhiḥ—with the waves.
Today, while halfway uttering words that were profound like the perfect mantras of the kāma-śāstras (or Her words were effected due to the arrival of Cupid and were profound like a mantra), Rādhā stole Hari’s heart with the waves of the vilāsa ornament. She had splendor with Her fickle sidelong glances that were obliquely cast. The creepers of Her eyebrows were highly resplendent with a dance, Her face was shining like moonlight due to Her jasmine-like smile, and Her earrings were dangling on Her cheeks. She was ravishing.
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 4.41) evam anyac ca bodhyam.
Other verses as well should be understood in this way.
Commentary:
Rūpa Gosvāmī shows this verse to illustrate Rādhā’s quality called suvilāsā (She has a superb vilāsa). Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains the compound vilāsormibhiḥ (with the waves of vilāsa) as vilāsākhyasyālaṅkārasyormibhis taraṅgaiḥ, “with the waves of the ornament called vilāsa” (Ānanda-candrikā 4.41). Vilāsa is one of the twenty emotional ornaments of a heroine (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 11.5). The definition is: gati-sthānāsanādīnāṃ mukha-netrādi-karmaṇām, tātkālikaṃ tu vaiśiṣṭyaṃ vilāsaḥ priya-saṅga-jam, “Vilāsa is a specialty that originates from meeting the beloved and it arises right at that time. It is the specialty of the suggestive actions of the face, of the eyes, and so on, while moving, standing, sitting, and so forth” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 11.31).
In this verse, the ornaments of sound are:
✡ An alliteration (vṛtti anuprāsa) of h in: “duhānā giraṃ hāriṇy adya harer jahāra hṛdayaṃ,”
✡ An alliteration (vṛtti anuprāsa) of m in “āgama-siddha-mantra-gahanām,”
✡ A śleṣa (literal double meaning) in the word hāriṇī (She is ravishing; She has a pearl necklace),
✡ Another śleṣa, in kandarpāgama, which means “kāma-śāstra” (the treatises on lust) and “the arrival of Cupid,”[2]
✡ Another śleṣa, (1) siddha-mantra-gahana, “[Her half broken words were] profound (gahana) on account of a perfect secret plan,”[3] and (2) siddha-mantraga-hana, “they relate to perfect mantras (siddha-mantra-ga) and they are killer (hana).”
The ornaments of meaning are:
✡ The parikara ornament (the assistants): There are many eminent adjectival compounds of the substantive Rādhā,
✡ The atiśayokti ornament (introsusception) (10.84): “The waves of vilāsa” means “the series of playful gestures of vilāsa,”
✡ The rūpaka ornament (metaphor): The creepers of Her brows,
✡ The virodha ornament (contradiction): The creepers of Her brows are dancing,
✡ A saṃsṛṣṭi of two similes: “Her face is shining like moonlight” and “Her jasmine-like smile,”
✡ The svabhāvokti ornament,
✡ The kāvya-liṅga ornament (explanatory reason): The movements of Her eyes, the dances of Her eyebrows, and so on, are the reason She stole His heart by means of the vilāsa ornament,
✡ Another kāvya-liṅga ornament: The description expresses the reason She was ravishing.
Implied meanings are:
✡ A sambhoga-śṛṅgāra-rasa-dhvani,
✡ A vastu-dhvani (implied idea): The phonemes expressive of ojas guṇa in the first half of the verse suggest the force of Her influential power,
✡ An implied kāvya-liṅga ornament (explanatory reason): [She was halfway uttering Her words] because She was spellbound,[4]
✡ A bhāva-śābalya-dhvani (implied friction of vyabhicāri-bhāvas): Her broken words hint at a friction between mada (being crazed), harṣa (joy), vrīḍā (bashfulness), autsukya (eagerness), cāpalya (fickleness), jāḍya (indolence), and so on,[5]
✡ An anugrāhya anugrāhakatā saṅkara of two implied metaphors, due to the mention of waves: Her face was an ocean agitated by the moon of His face,[6]
✡ A vastu-dhvani (the implied idea): In the end, He embraced Her and took Her to a bed of flower petals.[7]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The word duhānā is a feminine first case present participle in the ātmanepada of the verbal root duh prapūraṇe (2U) (to milk). Here the direct meaning of ‘filling’ is taken. Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments: giram ardhaṃ duhānā, asampūrṇam eva pūrayantīty arthaḥ (Ānanda-candrikā 4.41). Viṣṇudāsa explains: duhānā pūrayantī uccārayantīti yāvat (Svātma-pramodinī 4.41).
[2]:
In the meaning of “the arrival of Cupid,” the compound kandarpāgama-siddha-mantragahanām is taken as a karma-dhāraya consisting of two adjectives: [Her half-broken words were] effected due to the arrival of Cupid (i.e. due to an upsurge of passion) (kandarpāgama-siddha) and were profound like a mantra (mantra-gahanām).
[3]:
[4]:
bhāva-vaivaśyataḥ samyag uccāraṇāśakteḥ (Svātma-pramodinī).
[5]:
raty-uttha-mada-harṣa-vrīḍautsukya-cāpalya-jāḍyādi-bhāva-sammarda-vyañjakena svareṇa svayam eva pratyuttaraṃ dattam ity āha, kandarpeti (Ānanda-candrikā).