Text 10.63

उदाहरणम्,
यो बिभर्ति स्व-वीर्येण लीलया निखिलं जगत् ।
नित्योदयः श्रिया युक्तः स भाति परमेश्वरः ॥

udāharaṇam,
yo bibharti sva-vīryeṇa līlayā nikhilaṃ jagat |
nityodayaḥ śriyā yuktaḥ sa bhāti parameśvaraḥ ||

yaḥ—who; bibharti—maintains; sva-vīryeṇa—by his power; līlayā—playfully; nikhilam—entire; jagat—the world; nitya-udayaḥ—he has continuous prosperity; śriyā—with splendor; yuktaḥ—endowed; saḥ—he; bhāti—shines; parama-īśvaraḥ—the Supreme Lord (or a king named Parameśvara).

Parameśvara playfully supports the whole world by means of his power, always has prosperity, has much splendor, and is resplendent.

atrābhidhā-niyamanābhāvād bhagavān rāja-viśeṣaś ca vācyaḥ.

In this verse, both the Lord and a particular king named Parameśvara are literally expressed because Denotation is not restricted by a context and so on.

Commentary:

The word Parameśvara is śabda-śleṣa and each predicate clause is artha-śleṣa. The main difference between śabda-śleṣa (one word has two literal meanings) and artha-śleṣa (one literal meaning applies twice) is that in artha-śleṣa a synonym can be used without altering the wordplay (9.35).^[1]

Here Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa follows the modus operandi of Mammaṭa and Viśvanātha Kavirāja by making a double meaning on the name of an imaginary king. A pure example of artha-śleṣa, devoid of a dhvani and of another ornament, is not fascinating. Jagannātha says that artha-śleṣa, like upamā, is striking only when it enhances another ornament.^[2] Another example was shown earlier (4.76). Jagannātha’s example is very basic, so much so that the only strikingness is a cheka anuprāsa and an old-school yamaka (the occurrence of a visarga is disregarded): arjunasya gurur māyā-manujaḥ paramaḥ pumān, guñjā-puñja-dharaḥ pāyād apāyād iha ko’pi vaḥ, “He is Arjuna’s guru, a man with magical powers, the topmost person, and he wears guñjā beads. May some particular individual protect you all from misfortune” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 392). The words apply to Droṇa and to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.^[3] It is not that one of them is implied, because there is no context that restricts the scope of Denotation.

In the following verse, Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha describes his wife by combining artha-śleṣa and upamā (simile):

nirdūṣaṇā guṇavatī rasa-bhāva-pūrṇā sālaṅkṛtiḥ śravaṇa-komala-varṇa-rājiḥ |
sā māmakīna-kaviteva mano-’bhirāmā rāmā kadāpi hṛdayān mama nāpayāti ||

“Faultless, endowed with qualities and ornaments, filled with rasa and emotions, and graced with sounds soft to the ear, that lovely woman, enchanting like my poetry, never leaves my heart” (Bhāminī-vilāsa 3.6).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

parivṛtti-sahānām śabdānām eka-vṛnta-gata-phala-dvaya-nyāyena yatrānekārthapratipādakatā so’rtha-śleṣaḥ (Kāvya-pradīpa 10.96).

[2]:

ayaṃ copameva svatantro’pi tatra tatra sakalālaṅkārānugrāhakatayā sthitaḥ sarasvatyā navaṃ navaṃ saubhāgyam āvahan nānā-vidheṣu lakṣyeṣu sahṛdayair vibhāvanīya iti (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 402).

[3]:

Rūpa Gosvāmī says Kṛṣṇa is fond of guñja beads: guñja-priya (Govinda-virudāvali 24). Moreover, Kṛṣṇa was Arjuna’s guru in the sense that He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā. Droṇa was the topmost person in the sense that he achieved the position of Commander in Chief of the Kaurava army during the Battle of Kurukṣetra.