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 7.110
(23) [This is an example of aślīla (unpleasant):]
आदित्सयांशुकानाम् उन्नत-भुज-वीरुधां कुमारीणाम् |
पश्यति हरौ विरेजे गत-वसनानाम् अधो-दृष्टिः ||
āditsayāṃśukānām unnata-bhuja-vīrudhāṃ kumārīṇām |
paśyati harau vireje gata-vasanānām adho-dṛṣṭiḥ ||
Hari was resplendent when He looked at the girls, whose creeperlike arms were elongated since the girls wanted to retrieve their clothes. The glance of those naked gopīs was low. (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 10.123)
atrādharāṅga-dṛṣṭi-pratītes trapā-vyañjakārtho’ślīlaḥ. natā dṛṣṭir iti tu yuktam. uktodāhṛtiṣu ye’nye doṣāḥ santi, tatra tatrāprakṛtatvān na te prakāśitāḥ. evam anyatrāpi bodhyam.
Here the meaning “a low glance” is slightly shameful because it causes the understanding of a glance at a lower body part. The meaning is thus unpleasant. The proper reading is natā dṛṣṭiḥ (eyes looking at the ground; lit. a bowed glance).
Although other kinds of faults can be found in the previous examples, they were not illustrated because they were not a subject matter then. It should be understood in this way elsewhere as well.