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 10.57
माला-रूपं यथा,
mālā-rūpaṃ yathā,
Now the serial paramparita is illustrated. [Here the serial paramparita is based on paronomasia:]
kamalāmoda-rolambo mahat-paṅka-kṣayāṃśumān |
yogi-mānasa-haṃso’yaṃ bhavatād bhava-tāpa-bhit ||
kamalā-moda—which delights Lakṣmī (or kamala-āmoda—which delights in lotuses); rolambaḥ—the bee; mahat-paṅka—of the contamination of the greats (or of great mud); kṣaya—because of which there is the diminution; aṃśumān—the sun (“it has rays”); yogi—of yogis; mānasa—of the minds [in the form of the Mānasa lake]; haṃsaḥ—the swan; ayam—He; bhavatāt—may He be; bhava—in the form of material life; tāpa—of affliction; bhit—the terminator.
He is the bee that delights Lakṣmī (or a bee that delights in lotuses), the sun that dispels the contamination in the greats (or the sun ends much mud by drying the earth), and the swan on the Mānasa Lake minds of yogis. May He eliminate the affliction which is material life.
atra kamalāyā moda eva kamalānām āmoda evam ādy-āropo bhagavato rolambatvādy-ārope hetuḥ śliṣṭam atra vācakam.
In this verse, superimposing kamalāmoda in the sense of “it delights in lotuses” unto the same word kamalāmoda in the sense of “He delights Lakṣmī” is the cause of superimposing a bee unto the Lord, and so on. Here the words are paronomastic.
Commentary:
Similarly, superimposing the word mahat-paṅka-kṣaya in the sense of “He dispels the contamination in the greats” unto the word mahat-paṅka-kṣaya in the sense of “it ends much mud” is the reason for the metaphor “He is a sun.” And superimposing mānasa in the sense of “Mānasa Lake” unto mānasa in the sense of “mind” (the word mānasa is a one-word metaphor: the mind is a Mānasa Lake) is the cause of superimposing a swan unto the Lord.
In the paramparita rūpaka based on paronomasia, the causal metaphor is implied, therefore it is not a normal metaphor. The one word kamalāmoda, for instance, is a metaphor only in the sense that the word kamalāmoda is superimposed on the other word kamalāmoda. In technical terms, it is a kamalāmoda (it delights in lotuses) in the form of a kamalāmoda (He delights Lakṣmī). Mammaṭa, who invented the four categories of paramparita rūpaka, says it was called eka-deśa-vivarti by others (Bhāmaha, Udbhaṭa, and their followers).[1]
The implied dual sense of kamalāmoda as “it delights in lotuses” is a second-rate implied sense in the category of vācya-siddhi-aṅga (an aspect in the accomplishment of the literal sense of the sentence) (5.10) because it accomplishes the literal sense “He is a bee.” The same understanding applies to other instances of paramparita-rūpaka.
For example, Viśvanātha Kavirāja shows this verse to illustrate vācya-siddhi-aṅga,
dīpayan rodasī-randhram eṣa jvalati sarvataḥ |
pratāpas tava rājendra vairi-vaṃśa-davānalaḥ ||“O king of kings, your might, the conflagration for the bamboo dynasties of enemies, blazes everywhere while illuminating the heavens.”
Viśvanātha explains: atrānvayasya veṇutvāropo vyaṅgyaḥ. pratāpasya dāvānalatvāropa-siddhy-aṅgam, “Here the superimposition of the word vaṃśa in the sense of “bamboo” on the same word vaṃśa in the sense of “dynasty” (the word vaṃśa is a one-word metaphor: the dynasty is bamboo) is implied and is an aspect in the accomplishment of the superimposition of conflagration unto the might (it accomplishes the metaphor: “the might is a conflagration”)” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 4.14).
However, Viśvanātha Kavirāja says that some persons hold the reverse opinion: In the above verse, for instance, they would say that the metaphor “the might is a conflagration” is the cause of the superimposition of the word vaṃśa in the sense of “bamboo” on the word vaṃśa in the sense of “dynasty”.[2]
The concept of paramparita can take place in various ways. Rudraṭa invented the term paramparita. In Mammaṭa’s methodology, Rudraṭa’s causal metaphor is an atiśayokti. This is Rudraṭa’s example: smara-śabara-cāpa-yaṣṭir jayati janānanda-jaladhiśaśilekhā, lāvaṇya-salila-sindhuḥ sakala-kalā-kamala-sarasīyam, “The bow stick of Cupid the hunter is supereminent. It is moonlight for the ocean of people’s bliss; a sea of loveliness; and the pond for all the lotuses of amorous skills” (Kāvyālaṅkāra 8.51). Here the word cāpa-yaṣṭi (bow stick) is an atiśayokti (introsusception) and means “a beautiful woman”. Although it is not paronomastic, by the force of its predicated metaphors it is construed as an implied metaphor (bow stick in the form of beautiful woman). Subsequently it justifies the metaphor “Cupid is a hunter.” Another implied sense, a rūpaka-dhvani, is that the glances of a beautiful woman are arrows.