Text 10.5

Here the three varieties of the complete indirect simile are illustrated in sequence:

वदनं वर-द्युति समं सुधांशुना
  गुरु-कुम्भ-युग्म-सदृशं कुच-द्वयम् ।
तव सीधु-वत् सुख-करं वचः प्रिये
  तरुणी-मणिस् त्वम् इह भासि राधिके ॥

vadanaṃ vara-dyuti samaṃ sudhāṃśunā
  guru-kumbha-yugma-sadṛśaṃ kuca-dvayam |
tava sīdhu-vat sukha-karaṃ vacaḥ priye
  taruṇī-maṇis tvam iha bhāsi rādhike ||

vadanam—the face; vara—is the best; dyuti—whose effulgence; samam—is similar; sudhā-aṃśunā—to the moon (as the upamāna) (“its rays are nectar”); guru—heavy; kumbha—of waterpots; yugma—to a pair; sadṛśam—is similar; kuca-dvayam—pair of breasts; tava—Your; sīdhu-vat—like liquor [does]; sukha-karam—make happy; vacaḥ—speech; priye—O beloved; taruṇī—among young women; maṇiḥ—a jewel; tvam—You; iha—here; bhāsi—shine; rādhike—O Rādhikā.

O Rādhikā, Your face, which has a most excellent effulgence, resembles the moon. Your breasts are similar to a pair of heavy waterpots. O sweetheart, Your speech gives pleasure like ambrosia does. Here You shine as a jewel among young women.

atra krameṇārthī-trayam. sīdhu-vad ity atra tena tulyam iti vatiḥ.

In sīdhu-vat (like ambrosia), the suffix vat[i] is in the scope of the rule that begins tena tulyam.

Commentary:

The first sentence is an example of an indirect simile in a sentence because the word samam (similar), the word of comparison, is not compounded. The second sentence illustrates an indirect simile in a compound because the word sadṛśam (similar) is compounded. In the third sentence, the word sīdhu-vat (like ambrosia, i.e. like ambrosia does) means: sīdhur iva sukha-karaḥ (like ambrosia gives pleasure). The word sukha-kara in the text is carried forward into the meaning of the compound. The strict grammatical analysis of sīdhu-vat is: sīdhunā tulyam. Jīva Gosvāmī explains Pāṇini’s rule tena tulyaṃ kriyā ced vatiḥ (Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.1.115) as: upamāna-kriyād vatis tat-kriyā-tulya-kriyatve, “The suffix vat[i] is applied after the person or thing connected with the upamāna action (the action which is the standard of comparison) when a similarity between another action and the upamāna action is being expressed” (Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa 1197). This means the stated action (or mode of being) is carried forward into the meaning of the compound which has the suffix vat[i]. Pāṇini’s sūtra excludes the possibility that a quality can be carried forward into the meaning of such a compound,^[1] yet the poets break this rule. For example: madhuraḥ sudhā-vad adharaḥ, “Lips are sweet like nectar” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.17).

However, occasionally the usage of vat[i] or of iva (like) falls in the scope of the utprekṣā ornament (fanciful assumption). An example is: bhīta-vat, “as if He were afraid” (Bhāgavatam 10.9.9).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

brāhmaṇena tulyaṃ brāhmaṇa-vad adhīte. kriyā ced iti kim. guṇa-tulye mā bhūt. putreṇa tulyaḥ sthūlaḥ (Siddhānta-kaumudī 1778).