Text 10.56

क्रमेणोदाहरणम्,

krameṇodāharaṇam,

Examples are shown in order (this illustrates the single paramparita based on paronomasia and the single paramparita not based on paronomasia):

unmīlayan kuvalayaṃ nimīlayan dānavāmbuja-śreṇīm |
vraja-nara-pati-suta bhavato yaśaḥ-sudhāṃśuḥ samullasati ||

unmīlayan—while causing to open; kuvalayam—the blue nighttime water-lily (or ku-valaya—the circumference of the Earth); nimīlayan—while causing to close; dānava—of demons (“the sons of Danu”); ambuja—of lotuses; śreṇīm—the multitude; vraja—Vraja; nara-pati—of the king; suta—O son; bhavataḥ—Your; yaśaḥ—[in the form] of fame; sudhā-aṃśuḥ—the moon (“its rays are nectar”); samullasati—is resplendent.

O prince of Vraja, the moon of Your fame is resplendent. It makes the kuvalaya lotus of the Earth open and makes the Dānava lotuses close.

atra ku-valaye bhū-maṇḍale śliṣṭa-śabda-vācye kuvalayatvasyāropaḥ prakṛtasya yaśasaḥ sudhāṃśutvāropaṇe hetuḥ dānaveṣu bhinna-śabda-vācyeṣv ambujatvāropaś ca tathā.

Here the superimposition of the paronomastic word kuvalaya in the sense of “night lotus” unto the same word ku-valaya in the sense of “circumference of the Earth” is the cause of superimposing the moon on fame. Fame is the subject of description.

Similarly, the superimposition of a daytime lotus on the Dānavas is the cause of superimposing the moon on fame. The word dānava is not paronomastic.

Commentary:

In the sentence “The moon of Your fame makes the Dānava lotuses close,” the metaphor “the lotuses which are Dānavas” justifies the metaphor “the moon of Your fame” because a lotus closes at night. Mammaṭa illustrates a single nonparonomastic paramparita rūpaka: “O Kūrma, You are the bulbous root of the creeper of the fourteen worlds.”^[1] The metaphor “the fourteen worlds are a creeper” substantiates the metaphor “Kūrma is a root.” Jagannātha’s example is: mugdhāri-prāṇa-dugdhāśana-masṛṇa-rucis tvat-kṛpāṇo bhujaṅgaḥ, “Your sword, which has a smooth sheen because it consumes the milk of the confounded enemies’ life force, is a snake” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara). Here, superimposing milk unto the life force (life force is milk) is the cause of superimposing a snake unto the sword.^[2]

In the paramparita rūpaka based on paronomasia, the paronomastic word is actually two words in one: Those two words are a one-word implied metaphor which justifies the main metaphor. In this verse, the word kuvalaya is actually two words: kuvalaya (kuvalaya lotus) and ku-valaya (the Earth, lit. circumference of the Earth). It makes a one-word metaphor: “the kuvalaya lotus of the Earth.” And that metaphor justifies the metaphor “the moon of Your fame” because a kuvalaya lotus opens in moonlight. In paramparita-rūpaka, the term “paronomastic” (śliṣṭa) means the dual sense is implied.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

niravadhi ca nirāśrayaṃ ca yasya sthitam anivartita-kautuka-prapañcam |
prathama iha bhavān sa kūrma-mūrtir jayati caturdaśa-loka-valli-kandaḥ || (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 428)

[2]:

atrāpi bhujaṅgāropo dugdhāropa-samarthyatvenābhimataḥ (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 234).