Text 8.4

[This is an example of an ornament of meaning which assists the rasa,]

रिपुर् इव सखी-संवासोऽयं शिखीव हिमानिलो विषम् इव सुधा-रश्मिर् यस्मिन् दुनोति मनोगते ।
हृदयम् अदये तस्मिन्न् एवं पुनर् वलते बलात् कुवलय-दृशां वामः कामो निकाम-निरङ्कुशः ॥

ripur iva sakhī-saṃvāso’yaṃ śikhīva himānilo viṣam iva sudhā-raśmir yasmin dunoti manogate |
hṛdayam adaye tasminn evaṃ punar valate balāt kuvalaya-dṛśāṃ vāmaḥ kāmo nikāma-niraṅkuśaḥ ||

ripuḥ—an enemy; iva—like; sakhī—with the lady friends; saṃvāsaḥ—staying together; ayam—this; śikhī—fire; iva—like; hima—cold; anilaḥ—the wind; viṣam—poison; iva—like; sudhā-raśmiḥ—the moon (“its rays are nectar”); yasmin—toward whom; dunoti—pains; manogate—when there is a thought (“when there is the going of the mind”); hṛdayam—the heart; adaye—[to Him,] who is merciless; tasmin—to Him; evam—in this way; punaḥ—again; valate—is attached; balāt—by force; kuvalaya—are like nighttime blue water lilies; dṛśām—for those whose eyes; vāmaḥ—adverse; kāmaḥ—Cupid; nikāma—at will; niraṅkuśaḥ—uncontrolled (“without a goad”).

When I think about Him, being with My friends gives Me pain like an enemy does, a cool breeze pains Me as if it were fire, and moonrays torment Me as if they were poison. By force, My heart again becomes attached to that merciless fellow in that way. Cupid is adverse to girls whose eyes are like nocturnal lilies. He remains unbridled as long as he likes. (Gīta-govinda 7.40)

atropamālaṅkāraḥ sakhī-saṃvāsādiṣu ripu-mukha-dharmapratyāyanenārtham alaṅkurvaṃs taṃ puṣṇāti.

The verse features the upamā ornament (simile). It enhances the rasa while ornamenting the overall meanings by bringing to light the attributes such as “Being with My friends gives Me pain like an enemy does.”

Commentary:

The three similes—being with My friends gives Me pain like an enemy, a cool breeze pains Me like fire, and moonrays torment Me like poison—are the form of uddīpanas (stimuli) since they inflame the vipralambha. The poetical theorists mention an ornament as a category, rather than stating the number of occurrences of the ornament.

Each simile is mixed with the virodha ornament (contradiction): For instance, in “Being with My friends gives Me pain like an enemy,” the clause “Being with My friends gives Me pain” is the virodha ornament, and the whole statement is a simile.

A fourth simile occurs in the compound kuvalaya-dṛśām (to girls whose eyes are like nocturnal lilies). This simile enhances the eminence of the āśraya (the girls). In addition, the simile suggests that the girls like to stay awake at night: This vastu-dhvani adds eminence to the vipralambha.