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 8.10
शुष्केन्धनाग्नि-वत् स्वच्छ-जल-वत् सहसैव यः ॥ ८.७०cd ॥
śuṣkendhanāgni-vat svaccha-jala-vat sahasaiva yaḥ || 8.70cd ||
vyāpnoty anyat prasādo’sau sarvatra vihita-sthitiḥ ||8.71ab|| śuṣka—dry; indhana—fuel (wood[1]); agni-vat—like fire; svaccha—clear; jala-vat—like water; sahasā eva—immediately; yaḥ—which; vyāpnoti—pervades; anyat—another (the mind); prasādaḥ—named prasāda (clarity); asau—that [guṇa]; sarvatra—everywhere; vihita—is ordained; sthitiḥ—whose existence.
Prasāda (clarity) is the guṇa which is ordained everywhere. It immediately pervades the mind, like fire spreads through dry wood and like clear water spreads through some other thing.
agnir yathā śuṣkendhanaṃ vyāpnoti, yathā ca nirmalāmbu sitām, tadvad yaś cittaṃ sa prasādaḥ, sarvatra raseṣu racanāsu ca yaḥ sthitaḥ.
As fire spreads through dry wood, and as clear water spreads through granulated sugar, similarly that which spreads through the mind is prasāda, which occurs everywhere, that is to say in all the rasas and in all the constructions (the phonetic combinations and the style of compounding).
Commentary:
The term prasāda-guṇa mostly refers to the clarity of the expressed meanings: Mammaṭa says Vāmana’s artha-vyakti śabda-guṇa (the meanings are clear because the words are separated and are placed in proper order)[2] is included in prasāda (8.12). Prasāda does not involve a particular set of phonemes. The construction of prasāda is a construction that causes the understanding of the sense of the sentence merely by hearing the words (8.25).[3]
Ānandavardhana points out that the best instance of prasāda-guṇa is the clarity of an implied sense.[4] In that regard, Abhinavagupta says that clearness is the quality of clear water (rasa is a synonym of water). By figurative usage, prasāda-guṇa is an attribute of a rasa insofar as prasāda-guṇa is the clarity of the suggestiveness of the sounds and meanings which hint at an implied sense (especially the rasa).[5]
It is not simply a question of clarity: The term prasāda also means satisfaction. The degree of clarity must be such that it generates astonishment. This meaning of prasāda is a quality of all the rasas, since relishment characterized by astonishment is the essence of rasa. Ultimately, the qualities of the rasas are felt by and relished by the readers.[6] Viśvanātha Kavirāja says this is the reason Mammaṭa used the word anyat (some other thing), which refers to the mind of a connoisseur.[7] The purport is that the clarity (prasāda) is such that it gives satisfaction (prasāda) to a connoisseur.[8] Thus the qualities do not inhere in the rasas in the text. According to Abhinavagupta, they are figuratively said to inhere in the rasas.[9]
Further, Viśvanātha Kavirāja says the locative case in raseṣu, in Mammaṭa’s elaboration, is used in the sense of nimitta (purpose): raseṣu ādhāra-bhūteṣu iti nimitte saptamī (Kāvya-prakāśa-darpaṇa). This means the clarity of the wording is for the sake of the rasas. In short, prasāda is a mental function common to all aspects of poetry: sa prasādo guṇo jñeyaḥ sarva-sādhāraṇa-kriyaḥ (Dhvanyāloka 2.10).
In the sūtra, the two examples represent dīpti (blazing) and druti (melting) respectively, because ojas guṇa occurs in conjunction with prasāda-guṇa and because mādhurya-guṇa occurs in that way too.[10] The comparison with water originates from Abhinavagupta. The explanation of “granulated sugar” is from Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa. Ācārya Viśveśvara says the compound svaccha-jala-vat in the kārikā stands for svaccha-vastra-jala-vat (like water spreads through a clean garment).[11] In this way, karuṇa-rasa is not rendered incompatible.
The analogy with fire is a modification of this statement by Bharata Muni:
yo’rtho hṛdaya-saṃvādī tasya bhāvo rasodbhavaḥ |
śarīraṃ vyāpyate tena śuṣkaṃ kāṣṭham ivāgninā ||“An emotion that relates to a meaning which speaks to the heart gives rise to rasa (relish). The body is pervaded by it like dry wood is pervaded by fire” (Nāṭya-śāstra 7.7).
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
Vāmana defines it as follows: yatra jhaṭity-artha-pratipatti-hetutvaṃ sa guṇo’rtha-vyaktir iti (Kāvyālaṅkāra-sūtra 3.1.24). Jagannātha explains: jhagiti pratīyamānārthānvayakatvam artha-vyaktiḥ (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 57).
[3]:
[4]:
[5]:
akaluṣodaka-dṛṣṭāntena ca tad akāluṣyaṃ prasannatvaṃ nāma sarva-rasānāṃ guṇaḥ. upacārāt tu tathā-vidhe vyaṅgye’rthe yac chabdārthayoḥ samarpaktvaṃ tad api prasādaḥ (Locana 2.10).
[6]:
[7]:
[8]:
yahāṅ (kārikā meṅ) jo “anyat” pada hai uskā abhiprāya hai “vyāpya” kā (kyoṅki “vyāpnoti” se “prasāda” rūpa “vyāpaka” kā nirdeśa kiyā jā cukā hai) aur “vyāpya” kā abhiprāya hai sahṛdayahṛdaya kā (kyoṅki sahṛdaya-hṛdaya hī prasāda se vyāpta huā kartā hai—prasanna huā kartā hai) (Siṅgh, Satyavrata (2009), Kāvya-prakāśaḥ, p. 295).
[9]:
[10]:
[11]:
aur jab śṛṅgāra, karuṇa ādi komala rasoṅ meṅ hotā hai, tab svaccha vastra meṅ jalake samāna cittameṅ vyāpta hotā hai (Viśveśvara Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, Ācārya (2011), Kāvya-prakāśa, p. 390). Dr. Satyavrata Siṅgh concurs: jis prakāra agni ke dvarā sūkhā indhana athavā jal ke dvārā sāph kaprā (Siṅgh, Satyavrata (2009), Kāvya-prakāśaḥ, p. 294). Similarly, P.V. Kāṇe writes: “Prasāda is a Guṇa which is common to all the Rasas, by which the moment the words are uttered, the meaning is apprehended and which pervades the mind at once (i.e. which is instrumental in evolving at once the Rasas in the mind), in the case of vīra or raudra like fire pervading dry fuel and in the case of śṛṅgāra or karuṇa like water permeating a clean sheet of cloth.” (Kane, P.V. (1995), The Sāhitya-darpaṇa, p. 309)