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...

नवनीत-निभा राधा बाधा स्मर-शराग्निजा ।
निर्दयस् त्वम् इहोक्तेन किं वा न ब्रूमहे वयम् ॥

navanīta-nibhā rādhā bādhā smara-śarāgnijā |
nirdayas tvam ihoktena kiṃ vā na brūmahe vayam ||

Rādhā is soft life fresh butter. Her affiction arose from the fire of Cupid’s arrowsWhat is the use of mentioning that? You are merciless. We will not say anything.

atroktasyālī-viraha-duḥkhasya pratiṣedhas tasyāśakya-kathatvaṃ tu viśeṣaḥ.

There is a suppression of what was said: Her friend’s pang of separation. The special sense meant to be conveyed is that talking about her is impossible.

Commentary:

This is Mammaṭa’s example:

jyotsnā mauktika-dāma candana-rasaḥ śītāṃśukānta-dravaḥ
  karpūraṃ kadalī mṛṇāla-valayāny ambhojinī-pallavāḥ
|
antar-mānasam ās tvayā prabhavatā tasyāḥ sphuliṅgotkara-
  vyāpārāya bhavanti hanta kim anenoktena na brūmahe
||

“You have influence in the core of her heart. Moonlight, a pearl necklace, sandalwood paste, the effusion from a moonstone, camphor, a plantain tree trunk, bracelets made with lotus stems, and lotus petals seem like fire to her because of you. Ah, what is the use of saying all this? I will not say any more” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 472).

Here the implied sense is that there is no use in saying what she told him, because he has no heart. This is a form of a rebuke.

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