Text 9.11

सा च वृत्तिः,

सा च वृत्तिः,
माधुर्य-व्यञ्जकैर् वर्णैर् उपनागरिकेष्यते ।
ओजः-प्रकाशकैस् तु परुषा कोमला परैः ॥ ९.८० ॥

sā ca vṛttiḥ,
mādhurya-vyañjakair varṇair upanāgarikeṣyate |
ojaḥ-prakāśakais tu paruṣā komalā paraiḥ ||9.80||

mādhurya—sweetness; vyañjakaiḥ—which suggest; varṇaiḥ—with phonemes; upanāgarikā—upa-nāgarikā (comparable to a city girl); iṣyate—is desired (is called); ojaḥ—vigor; prakāśakaiḥ—[with phonemes] which manifest; tu—however; paruṣā—called paruṣā (harsh); komalā—called komalā (soft); paraiḥ—with the others.

Vṛtti anuprāsa made with phonemes that evoke sweetness is called upa-nāgarikā (sweet and clever like a city girl^[1] ). However, vṛtti anuprāsa made with phonemes that manifest vigor is called paruṣā (harsh). Vṛtti anuprāsa made with the other phonemes is termed komalā (soft).

parair ubhayoḥ śeṣair varṇaiḥ. tena tridhā vṛtty-anuprāsaḥ. krameṇodāharaṇam, “santataṃ santanoti” ity-ādi, “udvṛtta-mattadaityendra” ity-ādi, “lolāli-mālā” ity-ādi ca.

Komalā vṛtti anuprāsa is made with the leftover phonemes. Thus vṛtti anuprāsa has three categories. Examples were shown earlier: Verse 8.22 illustrates upa-nāgarikā, verse 8.24 shows paruṣā, and verse 8.3 exemplifies komalā.

Commentary:

The following is Mammaṭa’s example of komalā vṛtti anuprāsa (multiple alliteration of soft phonemes). Most of the words are not compounded, the compounds are very short, and there is no conjunct consonant.

Here the construction of softness enhances vipralambha,

apasāraya ghana-sāraṃ kuru hāraṃ dūra eva kiṃ kamalaiḥ |
alam alam āli mṛṇālair iti vadati divā-niśaṃ bālā ||

““Throw away the camphor. Fling the necklace out of here. What is the use of these lotuses? O sakhī, enough, enough of these lotus stalks.” The young woman speaks in this way day and night” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 356).

Mammaṭa’s statement that the soft phonemes are the leftover phonemes is too vague. He is only referring to Udbhaṭa’s definition of komalā vṛtti anuprāsa,^[2] yet Udbhaṭa only used soft phonemes in this regard. Kavikarṇapūra classed the leftover phonemes in two groups, called komala (soft) and madhyama ojas (intermediary ojas). He says even the latter can be suitably mixed with śṛṅgāra, and so on, for a heightened effect.^[3] Still, not all the leftover phonemes fit in his two categories. The list of the most important soft phonemes was mentioned in Commentary 8.21. Another example was shown in Commentary 8.30.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Abhinavagupta explains the term upanāgarikā as: nāgarikayā vidagdhayā upamiteti, “It is compared to a clever young woman living in a city”(Locana 1.1). Pratīhārendu-rāja, the commentator on Udbhaṭa’s Kāvyālaṅkāra-sāra-saṅgraha, expounds: eṣā khalu nāgarikayā vaidagdhā-juṣā vanitayā upamīyate tata upanāgarikā, nāgarikayā upamitā upanāgariketi, avādayaḥ kruṣṭādy-arthe tṛtīyayeti samāsaḥ, “This mode of alliteration is compared to a woman living in a city, that is to say a woman who has wits, therefore it is called upa-nāgarikā. It is compared to a nāgarikā, thus it is upa-nāgarikā. The compound is made by the rule: avādayaḥ kruṣṭādy-arthe tṛtīyayā, “When the sense is crying, and so on, terms such as ava are compounded with a word in the instrumental case in the construction” (Vārttika 2.2.18)” (Laghu-vṛtti 1.5).

[2]:

śeṣair varṇair yathā-yogaṃ kathitāṃ komalākhyayā |
grāmyāṃ vṛttiṃ praśaṃsanti kāvyeṣv ādṛta-buddhayaḥ || (Kāvyālaṅkāra-sāra-saṅgraha 1.6)

[3]:

aṭa-vargair arephaiśca kkha-gghābhyāṃ ca vivarjitaiḥ|
ayuktaiśca mahā-prāṇair madhyatāṃ pratipadyate || madhyatāṃ madhyaujastvam, kkha-gghābhyām iti acchādi-varjanaṃ na kāryam ity arthaḥ. mahā-prāṇair iti ha-kāreṇa saha varga-caturthais taiḥ, ayuktaiḥ kevalair ity arthaḥ. ca-kārāt kvacit saṃyuktaś ca || 30 || śṛṅgāre’py eṣa cāruḥ syāt karuṇādau bhaven na vā|
mādhuryavyañjakair varṇair yuktaś ced atisundaraḥ |
gāḍa-bandhāḥ sa ākhyātaḥ pāṭhe vadana-pūrti-kṛt || 31 || (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 6.30-31)