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 10.72 [Aprastuta-praśaṃsā]
अप्रस्तुत-प्रशंसा या सा सैव प्रस्तुताश्रया ॥ १०.९८cd ॥
aprastuta-praśaṃsā yā sā saiva prastutāśrayā || 10.98cd ||
aprastuta-praśaṃsā—the ornament called aprastuta-praśaṃsā (“mentioning what is not the contextual topic”); yā—which; sā—that; sā eva—exactly that; prastuta—is the contextual entity (or the contextual topic); āśrayā—whose foundation.
If the prastuta (the contextual topic) is understood from the aprastuta, that is aprastuta-praśaṃsā (indirect expression).
aprāsaṅgikārthoktir yadi prāsaṅgikārtham ākṣipati tadāprastuta-praśaṃsā.
If the mention of a noncontextual meaning necessarily points to the contextual meaning, that is aprastuta-praśaṃsā.
Commentary:
In this context, the word praśaṃsā simply means varṇanam (mentioning),[1] and the term aprastuta-praśaṃsā signifies “mentioning a noncontextual topic.” In the aprastuta-praśaṃsā of the old-school poetical theorists, however, the ornament was so called because a noncontextual thing was described in a good way in order to hint at a contextual topic.[2] The word praśaṃsā literally means “praising”.
In his elaboration on the above sūtra, Mammaṭa says the contextual meaning is in the scope of ākṣepa[3] (indication, implication).[4] Śrīvatsa-lāñchana Bhaṭṭācārya, Govinda Ṭhakkura and Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa say this means the contextual meaning is implied.[5] The gist is that aprastuta-praśaṃsā is like figurative usage: Most of the time, the literal meaning does not quite make sense by itself, and therefore a contextual topic is implied to make sense of it. Thus Ruyyaka says aprastuta-praśaṃsā is a form of figurative usage because it indicates something else.[6] Jayaratha says aprastuta-praśaṃsā is an additional category of Indication to be added after Inclusive Indication and Exclusive Indication.[7]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
aprastutasya praśaṃsā varṇanam. saivāprastuta-praśaṃsaivety arthaḥ. prastutāśrayā prakṛta-pratipatti-hetuḥ (Kāvya-pradīpa).
[2]:
adhikārād apetasya vastuno’nyasya yā stutiḥ |
aprastuta-praśaṃseti sā caivaṃ kathyate yathā || (Bhāmahālaṅkāra 3.29)
[4]:
yadā tāvat sāmānyasyāprastutasyābhidhīyamānasya prākaraṇikena viśeṣeṇa pratīyamānena sambandhas tadā viśeṣa-pratītau satyām api prādhānyena tat-sāmānyenāvinābhāvāt sāmānyasyāpi prādhānyam. (Dhvanyāloka 1.13). Ānandavardhana uses the term avinā-bhāva in the same sense Kumārila Bhaṭṭa uses the term avinā-bhūta (2.13), thus here Abhinavagupta explains avinā-bhāva as ākṣepa (Indication, 2.12): aprastutasya varṇanaṃ prastutākṣepiṇa ity arthaḥ. sā cākṣepas tri-vidho bhavati—sāmānya-viśeṣa-bhāvāt, nimitta-nimitti-bhāvāt, sārūpyāc ca (Locana 1.13).
[5]:
[6]:
evaṃ ca yatra vācyo’rtho’rthāntaraṃ tādṛśam eva svopaskārakatvenāgūrayati tatra paryāyoktam. yatra punaḥ svātmānam evāprastutatvāt prastutam arthāntaraṃ prati samarpayati tatrāprastuta-praśaṃseti nirṇayaḥ (Alaṅkāra-sarvasva, KM p. 107).
[7]:
Jayaratha comments on Ruyyaka: evaṃ cety-ādi, tādṛśam eveti vācyam. svopakārakatveneti, sva-siddhy-arthaṃ parasyākṣepāt. samarpayatīti vācyo’rthaḥ. itthaṃ ca “sva-siddhaye parākṣepaḥ parārthaṃ sva-samarpaṇam |
upādānaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ ca” [Kāvya-prakāśa 2.10] ity uktyā lakṣaṇā-dvayāśritatvād anayor avāntaro’pi viṣaya-bhedo’stīty atra tātparyam (Alaṅkāra-sarvasva-vimarṣiṇī).