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 7.6
निकुञ्जं हन्ति माधवः. अत्र हन्तीति गतौ पठितम् अपि तत्र न समर्थम्.
nikuñjaṃ hanti mādhavaḥ. atra hantīti gatau paṭhitam api tatra na samartham.
(4) An instance of asamartha (unable to be meaningful, i.e. not the intended meaning) is: nikuñjaṃ hanti mādhavaḥ, “Mādhava goes to the pleasure grove” (or Mādhava kills the pleasure grove). Here, although the verbal root han hiṃsā-gatyoḥ (to hurt, kill; to go) is listed with the sense of gati (to go), the verb hanti is unable to convey that meaning.
Commentary:
Consequently, nikuñjaṃ hanti mādhavaḥ should be changed to: nikuñjaṃ gacchati mādhavaḥ (Mādhava goes to the pleasure grove). Mammaṭa explains the fault called asamartha as follows: asamarthaṃ yat tad arthaṃ paṭhyate na ca tatrāsya śaktiḥ, “Asamartha means the word has no ability (samartha = śakti) to convey that sense although it is listed” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 144 preliminary). In truth, asamartha should be merged in nihatārtha (obstructed meaning) (7.7). Viśvanātha Kavirāja eliminated asamartha from his list of faults (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 7.2-4).
As a double meaning, some commentators refer to the meaning of gati of the verbal root han. For instance, as a second explanation, Sanātana Gosvāmī glosses hatam (struck) in Bhāgavatam 10.7.7 as gatam (gone).[1] Similarly, as a double meaning Śrīnātha Paṇḍita glosses āhatāḥ, in Bhāgavatam 10.22.18, as āgatāḥ (arrived).[2] In like manner, as a second meaning Vīra-Rāghava interprets the verbal root han in paśu-ghna, in Bhāgavatam 10.1.4, in the meaning of gati, which he interprets in the sense of jñāna (to know).369
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
yadvā āhatā āgatā han hiṃsā-gatyoḥ iti gaty-arthāt (Caitanya-mata-mañjūṣā 10.22.18). 369 yadvā paśu-vad hanti gacchati vyāpriyata iti paśu-ghnaḥ taṃ vinety arthaḥ. paśu-tulya-vṛttiḥ kevala-mūrkha iti yāvat. yadvā apaśu-ghnād iti cchedaḥ. paśv iti samyag arthakam avyayam. na paśu asamyak hanti gacchati buddhyatīti tathā ‘han hiṃsā-gatyoḥ’ gaty-arthās sarve jñānārthakāḥ. samyag upakāram avidvān kṛta-ghna iti yāvat (Bhāgavata-candra-candrikā 10.1.4).