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 7.72
अस्थान-स्थ-समासं यथा,
asthāna-stha-samāsaṃ yathā,
(15) The fault named apada-stha-samāsa (a compound out of place) is also called asthāna-stha-samāsa. This is an example:
māno’sty adyāpi nārīṣu tan māṃ dhig iti candramāḥ |
phullat-kairava-kośodyad-bhṛṅgāsiṃ karṣati krudhā ||
mānaḥ—pique; asti—is; adya—now; api—even; nārīṣu—in women; tat—therefore; mām dhik—fie on me; iti—(end of quotation); candramāḥ—the moon; phullat—blooming; kairava—of a white lotus (which opens at night); kośa—from the cup (or from the scabbard); udyat—which are rising; bhṛṅga—in the form of bees; asim—the sword; karṣati—draws; krudhā—anger (i.e. the angry moon).
The moon thinks: “Although I have risen, pique remains in women, so fie on me.” Being angry, the moon draws a sword in the shape of a line of bees arising from the cup of an open lotus. (adapted from Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 238)
atra candrasya kruddhasyoktau samāso na kṛtaḥ, kaver akruddhasyoktau tu kṛtaḥ.
In this verse, compounding was not done in the statement of the moon’s anger, yet it was done in the statement of the poet, who is not angry.
Commentary:
A long compound is a characteristic of ojas guṇa, which should only be used to express anger and so on. The imagery comes out better in Mammaṭa’s verse: “Red as if out of rage, the moon at once extends his rays (or hand) and draws his sword in the form of a line of bees flying out of the scabbard cup of a blown lotus.”[1]