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...

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(4a) [The normal sequence between a cause and its effect is reversed:]

प्रग् एव हरिणाक्षीणां विवेष हृदयं स्मरः ।
दृग्-गोचरी-भवन् पश्चाद् भवान् भुवन-मोहनः ॥

prag eva hariṇākṣīṇāṃ viveṣa hṛdayaṃ smaraḥ |
dṛg-gocarī-bhavan paścād bhavān bhuvana-mohanaḥ ||

prak—at first; eva—only; hariṇa-akṣīṇām—of the doe-eyed women; viveṣa—entered; hṛdayam—the heart; smaraḥ—Cupid; dṛk-gocarī-bhavan—becoming one who is in the range of the eyes; paścāt—afterward; bhavān—You; bhuvana—of the world; mohanaḥ—a bewildered.

[A sakhī speaks to Kṛṣṇa:] At first Cupid entered the hearts of the doe-eyed girls. Afterward You came in the range of the girls’ sight and became the Don Juan of the world.

Commentary:

Mammaṭa’s example is similar. In reality, at first Kṛṣṇa was seen, then Cupid entered the girls’ hearts. Gaṅgānātha Jhā comments: “The idea here expressed is that “so powerful was the effect produced by her seeing you that she fell in love before she actually saw you.””[1] The purpose of a change in the normal sequence between a cause and its effect is to express the quickness of the efficiency of the cause.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Jhā, Gaṅgānātha (1985), Kāvya-prakāsha of Mammata, p. 392.

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