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 10.86
(3) [This illustrates an imagination by using the word “if”:]
पूर्णो यदि स्याद् अनिशं सुधांशुः स चेत् कलङ्केन भवेद् विहीनः ।
चकोर-पेयो’पि न चेद् अयं स्यात् त्वद्-आस्य-दास्याय तदैव राधे ॥
pūrṇo yadi syād aniśaṃ sudhāṃśuḥ sa cet kalaṅkena bhaved vihīnaḥ |
cakora-peyo’pi na ced ayaṃ syāt tvad-āsya-dāsyāya tadaiva rādhe ||
pūrṇaḥ—full; yadi—if; syāt—is; aniśam—forever; sudhā-aṃśuḥ—the moon; saḥ—it; cet—if; kalaṅkena—of a mark; bhavet—it were; vihīnaḥ—devoid; cakora—by cakora birds; peyaḥ—drunk; api—even; na—not; cet—if; ayam—it; syāt—is; tvat-āsya—of Your face; dāsyāya—[fit] for a servant; tadā—then; eva—only; rādhe—O Rādhā.
O Rādhā, if the moon were continuously full, if it had no mark, and if it had not been drunk by cakora birds, only then could it become a servant of Your face.
Commentary:
This is Mammaṭa’s example: rākāyām akalaṅkaṃ ced amṛtāṃśor bhaved vapuḥ, tasyā mukhaṃ tadā sāmya-parābhavam avāpnuyāt, “If the moon on the full moon night were spotless, only then could her face suffer the insult of being equalled” (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 451).