Text 10.78

तुल्ये प्रस्तुते तुल्यस्योक्तौ तिस्त्रो विधाः श्लेषः समासोक्तिः सादृश्यमात्रं चेति. क्रमेणोदाहरणम्,

tulye prastute tulyasyoktau tistro vidhāḥ śleṣaḥ samāsoktiḥ sādṛśyamātraṃ ceti. krameṇodāharaṇam,

(5) The category of aprastuta-praśaṃsā where one thing is understood from a similar thing has three varieties: (A) the śleṣa variety (the substantive and the modifiers are paronomastic), (B) the samāsokti variety (only the modifiers are paronomastic), and (C) the sādṛśya variety (a mere similarity, without a double meaning).

Examples are shown in order.

tyajan kuvalayādhikāṃ ghana-rasa-śriyollāsinīṃ
  puraḥ sura-taraṅgiṇīṃ madhura-matta-haṃsa-svanām |
malīmasa-payodharām api madāndha-padminn imāṃ
  bhajan kim iva paṅkilām ahaha karmanāśām asi ||

tyajan—abandoning; kuvalaya-adhikām—which has an abundance of night lotuses (or ku-valaya-adhikām— a superior woman on the Earth globe); ghana-rasa—of water (“cloud fluid”) (or of śṛṅgāra-rasa, the deep rasa); śriyā—with the resplendence; ullāsinīm—radiant (or excited); puraḥ—earlier (or in front); sura-taraṅgiṇīm—the Ganges (“the river of the gods”) (or surata-raṅgiṇīm—a playful woman in amorous sport); madhura-matta-haṃsa-svanām—in which there are sweet sounds of intoxicated swans (or she whose sounds are like the sweet sounds of an intoxicated swan); malīmasa—are darkish (or dirty); payaḥ-dharām—it gushes water (or on whom the breasts); api—even; mada-andha—blinded by intoxication; padmin—O elephant (or O You who have a lotus; or O You in whom Padmā exists, i.e. she is on His mind); imām—this; bhajan—experiencing (or serving); kim iva—why at all; paṅkilām—muddy (or sinful); ahaha—alas; karma-nāśām—the Karmanāśā River (which is between Kāśī and Bihar) (or in whom there is the cessation of action, i.e. she does nothing); asi—You are.

[This is the śleṣa variety. A gopī speaks to Kṛṣṇa:]

[The apparent meaning:]
O elephant blinded by intoxication, why at all did You abandon the Ganges, which has many night lotuses, which is gorgeous with resplendent water, and in which there are sweet sounds of intoxicated swans, and experience this muddy Karmanāśā River that gushes darkish water?

[The real meaning:]
O You who think about Padmā! O You who are blinded by lasciviousness! Why at all do You, standing in front, abandon me, who am a superior woman on Earth, who am excited by the resplendence of śṛṅgāra-rasa, who am playful in amorous sport, and whose sounds are like the sweet sounds of an intoxicated swan, and serve that sinful woman whose breasts are dirty and who does nothing? (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 7.19)

atra nāyikādeḥ prastāve tat-tulyo nady-ādir uktaḥ. kuvalayādi-śabdānāṃ dvy-arthakatvāt śleṣa-cchāyā.

Here the ladyloves and so on are the contextual topic, yet the rivers and so on, which are similar to them, are mentioned. There is a shadow of a śleṣa because the words such as kuvalaya have two meanings.

Commentary:

The śleṣa variety signifies that at least one substantive is paronomastic. The double meaning is implied, thus in this ornament the term śleṣa does not have its technical sense of “literal double meaning.” Similarly, the samāsokti variety only means that modifiers are paronomastic.^[1] In the sādṛśya variety, there is a mere similarity, and no double meaning. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’ expression “a shadow of a śleṣa” (śleṣa-cchāyā) is taken from Śrīvatsa-lañchana Bhaṭṭācārya’s commentary on Mammaṭa’s verse.^[2]

Rūpa Gosvāmī shows the above verse to illustrate vyapadeśa (chatter under some pretext), which Jīva Gosvāmī equates with aprastuta-praśaṃsā.^[3] Here Rūpa Gosvāmī took the śleṣa variety of aprastuta-praśaṃsā to the next level by constructing two separate interpretations: Many substantives are paronomastic, notably the vocative padmin (O elephant; O You who have Padmā), and all the modifiers are paronomastic. The verse illustrates Ānandavardhana’s statement that in aprastuta-praśaṃsā, sometimes the prastuta meaning is in the scope of a first-rate implied sense.^[4] Ānandavardhana says there is no first-rate implied sense in any other ornament: tasmān na dhvaner anyatrāntar-bhāvaḥ (Dhvanyāloka 1.13).

This is Mammaṭa’s example:

puṃstvād api pravicalet yadi yady adho’pi yāyāt yadi praṇayane na mahān api syāt abhyuddharet tad api viśvam itīdṛśīyaṃ kenāpi dik prakaṭitā puruṣottamena

“If a man deviates from manhood, or if he lowers himself by begging, then he is not glorious, unless he upholds the world. Such was the standard set by some excellent man (puruṣottama).” (Bhallaṭa-śataka 79) (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 443)

Viṣṇu took the form of Mohiṇī, Vāmana begged, and Varāha lifted the Earth. This is the śleṣa variety because the word puruṣottama is a paronomastic substantive. According to Narahari Sarasvatī Tīrtha, some eminent man is the actual subject of description, and on that occasion there is a mention of the Lord, who has a similar nature (by the force of paronomastic modifiers).^[5] The verse is cited by Viśvanātha Kavirāja (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.59): P.V. Kāṇe explains that Rāmacandra, a commentator on Sāhitya-darpaṇa, says Puruṣottama was the name of a king.^[6] Without a context, the verse is artha-śleṣa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

prakāśe śleṣa-samāsokti-pade śliṣṭa-śabda-śliṣṭa-viśeṣaṇa-pare (Uddyota on Kāvya-prakāśa verse 442 vṛtti).

[2]:

atra puruṣa-śreṣṭhe prakṛte tad-upamānī-bhūtaḥ śri-viṣṇur uktaḥ, puruṣottamādiśabdānām ubhayārthakatvāt, śleṣa-cchāyā-prasiddha-vaśād aprakṛtasyāpi śrī-viṣṇoḥ prathamam abhidhānam (Sāra-bodhinī).

[3]:

vyapadeśa iti. rasa-śāstra evāpadeśasya pāribhāṣikī saṃjñā, anyatra tv abhidhaivocyate. vyapadeśas tu vyāja eveti. vyājaś cānya-varṇanenābhīṣṭārtha-bodhanam. ayam evāprastutapraśaṃsā-nāmālaṅkāraḥ (Locana-rocaṇī 7.18).

[4]:

yadā tu sārūpya-mātra-vaśenāprastuta-praśaṃsāyām aprakṛta-prakṛtayoḥ sambandhas tadāpy aprastutasya sarūpasyābhidhīyamānasya prādhānyenāvivakṣāyāṃ dhvanāv evāntaḥ-pātaḥ. itarathā tv alaṅkārāntaram eva (Dhvanyāloka 1.13). Ānandavardhana did not mention the śleṣa variety nor the samāsokti variety: They are included in his sārūpya variety (sādṛśya).

[5]:

atra kasmiṃścit puruse prastute tat-tulya-svabhāvasya bhagavataḥ abhidhānam (Bāla-cittānurañjinī).

[6]:

Kane, P.V. (1995), The Sāhitya-darpaṇa, p. 203.