Text 9.20 [Yamaka]

Yamaka

अर्थे सत्य् अर्थ-भिन्नानां वर्णानां सा पुनः श्रुतिः ।
यमकं पाद-तद्-भाग-वृत्ति तद् यात्य् अनेकताम्  ॥ ९.८३ ॥

arthe saty artha-bhinnānāṃ varṇānāṃ sā punaḥ śrutiḥ |
yamakaṃ pāda-tad-bhāga-vṛtti tad yāty anekatām ||9.83||

arthe sati—when there is a meaning; artha—on account of a meaning; bhinnānām—which are different; varṇānām—of phonemes (the consonants and the vowels)^[1]; sā—that (i.e. the same); punaḥ—again; śrutiḥ—hearing; yamakam—yamaka; pāda-tat-bhāga—of a word or of a portion of a word; vṛtti—in which there is the repetition (vṛtti = āvṛtti); tat—that (yamaka); yāti—reaches; anekatām—the state of being many.

Yamaka (word rhyme) consists of the repetition of a sound which has a different meaning than the first sound, when there is a meaning. (A yamaka consists of two groups of the exact same sounds; sometimes both groups are meaningless, sometimes one group is meaningful while the other is not, and sometimes both are meaningful.)

The yamakas which involve the repetition of a line or of a part of a line have many varieties.

bhinnārthasya svara-vyañjana-rūpasya varṇa-saṅghasya sā pūrvānupūrvīkā punaḥ śrutir yamakaṃ tena nadīdīna ity ādau na prasaṅgaḥ. nanu samara-samaraso’yam ity ādāv ekasya varṇa-saṅghasyārthavattvam, aparasya tu nirarthakatvam, na dīna-dīptiḥ ity ādāv ubhayoś ca. tataḥ katham artha-bhinnānām iti yuktaṃ bhāṣitum ity ata uktam, arthe satīti. tac ca yamakaṃ pāda-tad-bhāgāvṛtti-rūpatayā pādādy-āvṛtteś ca bahu-vidhatayā prabhūtatama-bhedam.

Yamaka is the repeated hearing, which follows the sequence, of a multitude of phonemes which is the form of vowels and consonants and which has a different meaning. Therefore “nadīdīna”, for instance, cannot be considered a yamaka [because the sequence is not the same. A sound such as “nadīdīna” is classed as a vṛtti anuprāsa by Viśvanātha Kavirāja^[2] ].

Someone might argue: “In samara-samaraso’yam (He has the same feelings in war), and the like, one multitude of phonemes is meaningful (samara means war) whereas the other is meaningless (the second samara is meaningless because the word is actually sama-rasa). And sometimes both groups of phonemes are meaningless, as in: na dīna-dīptiḥ (He is not one whose splendor is slight) (the first na dī is meaningless, and so is the second one: na-dī). Therefore how can you justifiably state: artha-bhinnānām (which are different on account of a meaning)?” In response, in the sūtra it was said: arthe sati (when there is a meaning).

Yamaka has many varieties, by also counting the repetition of a line, or of a part of a line, and so on. Among the ornaments, yamaka has the most varieties.

Commentary:

According to Viśvanātha Kavirāja, sometimes a yamaka occurs only because of the similarity of sound, and not because of the phonemes themselves, since in Sanskrit the letters ḍ and l are considered to be the same, and similarly in the case of b and v, and of l and r.^[3] This also applies in citra-kāvya (picture poetry), in a verse of few consonants, and in śleśa (literal double meaning).

The term yamaka means “two things which are as if alike,” by the derivation: yamau dvau tulya-jātīyau tat-pratikṛti yamakaṃ svārthe kan, “Yama means two, i.e. two things of the same kind. A yamaka is a resemblance of that. The suffix ka[n] is added without a change in meaning” (Candrakalā-ṭīkā 10.8). The rule is: ive pratikṛtau, “The suffix ka[n] is used in the sense of similarity when the meaning is imitation” (Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.3.96). In other contexts, the word yamaka, made from yama, means a pair: The suffix ka is added after yama (a pair; twins) without changing the meaning: yam + bhāve ghañ, svārthe kan (Śabda-kalpa-druma).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Viśvanātha Kavirāja says the plural in varṇānām is not meant to be emphasized because sometimes there is a yamaka of two phonemes: varṇānām iti, bahu-vacanam avivakṣitam, tena varṇa-dvayāvṛttāv api yamakaṃ boddhavyam (Kāvya-prakāśa-darpaṇa).

[2]:

atra “rasollāsair amī” iti rasayor ekadhaiva sāmyam. na tu tenaiva krameṇāpi (Sāhityadarpaṇa 10.4).

[3]:

yamakādau bhaved aikyaṃ ḍa-lor ba-vor la-ros tathā ity ukta-nayāt “bhuja-latāṃ jaḍatāṃ harir ānayat” ity atra na yamakatva-hāniḥ (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.8).