Text 7.27

(6) [This illustrates anucitārtha (unsuitable meaning) in a sentence:]

देव त्वम् असि कुविन्दः पटयसि च गुणान् प्रति-क्षणं चित्रम् |
कीर्तिस् तव प्रियासौ प्रति-वेश्म कथं दिग्-अम्बरा भ्रमति ||

deva tvam asi kuvindaḥ paṭayasi ca guṇān prati-kṣaṇaṃ citram |
kīrtis tava priyāsau prati-veśma kathaṃ dig-ambarā bhramati ||

deva—O king; tvam asi—you are; kuvindaḥ—a king (ku-vinda, “one who obtains the Earth”) (or weaver); paṭayasi—you spread (or you weave); ca—and; guṇān—qualities (or threads); prati-kṣaṇam—at every moment; citram—amazingly; kīrtiḥ—fame (or speech); tava—your; priyā—dear; asau—that; prati-veśma—in every house; katham—how; dig-ambarā—[fame,] which pervades the directions (or naked) (“one whose garment is the directions”); bhramati—wavers (or totters).

O king, you are a sovereign and you increase qualities at every moment in an amazing way. Being in every house, your dear fame is omnipresent. Why would it waver?

Alternatively: My god, you’re a weaver, and you interlace threads at every moment in an amazing way. How is it that your bare faltering speech is dear in every house? (adapted from Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 173)

atra kuvindādi-śabdā bhūpālādi-vācino’pi tantu-vāyādy-arthapratīter anucitārthāḥ.

In this example, although the words kuvinda and so on are expressive of the senses of ‘sovereign’ and so forth, their meanings are unsuitable (anucitārtha) because of the perception of the sense of ‘weaver’, and so on.