Text 7.83

अमतः प्रकृत-विरुद्धः परोऽर्थो यत्र तत्. यथा,

amataḥ prakṛta-viruddhaḥ paro'rtho yatra tat. yathā,

(21) The fault called amata-parārtha (unintended meaning) means another sense is contrary to the contextual topic. This is an example:

rāma-manmatha-śareṇa tāḍitā duḥsahena hṛdaye niśā-carī |
gandha-vad rudhira-candanokṣitā jīviteśa-vasatiṃ jagāma sā ||

rāma—in the form of Rāma; manmatha—of Cupid; śareṇa—by the arrow; tāḍitā—wounded; duḥsahena—unbearable; hṛdaye—in the heart; niśā-carī—the Rākṣasī (or a woman who goes out at night); gandha-vat—fragrant; rudhira-candana—blood which was like sandalwood paste (or red sandalwood paste); ukṣitā—who was sprinkled; jīviteśa—of Yamarāja (or of the lover); vasatim—to the abode; jagāma—went; sā—she.

[First interpretation:]

Wounded in the heart by the unbearable arrow of Rāma, who churns the mind, the Rākṣasī, sprinkled with her own blood, which was fragrant like sandalwood paste, went to Yama’s abode.

[Second interpretation:]

Struck in the heart by the unbearable arrow of Cupid Rāma, the abhisārikā heroine, anointed with fragrant red sandalwood paste, went to her lover’s residence. (Raghu-vaṃśa 11.20) (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 254)

atra śṛṅgāra-vyañjako dvitīyo’rthaḥ prakṛta-bībhatsa-virodhād aniṣṭaḥ. evam anyac ca parīkṣyam.

In this verse, the second sense, which is suggestive of śṛṅgāra-rasa, is not desired because it is in contradiction with bībhatsa-rasa (disgust), the contextual topic.

Other faults can be looked into.

Commentary:

Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa explains that the demonness Tāṭakā’s blood was fragrant like the smoke from Pūtanā’s burning body (Bhāgavatam 10.6.34) because all her sinful reactions came to an end when her body was struck by Rāma’s arrow: gandhavattvaṃ raktasya raghunāthaśara-sambandhāt pāpa-kṣayāt pūtanā-dhūma-vat (Uddyota).

This literary fault could have been listed among the rasa-doṣas (7. 137). Indeed, Kavikarṇapūra defines this fault as follows: amato viruddhaḥ parārthaḥ parasya rasasyārtho yatra tad amata-parārtham, “a sentence in which there is an adverse sense of another rasa” (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 10.106). Nonetheless, Kavikarṇapūra as well lists this fault in the category of vākya-doṣa. The fault could also have been called viruddha-mati-kṛt (it causes a contradictory thought) in a sentence.