Text 10.121

यथा,
उन्मीलन्ति नखैर् लुनीहि वहति क्षौमाञ्चलेनावृणु
  क्रीडा-काननम् आविशन्ति वलय-क्वाणैर् मुहुस् त्रासय ।
इत्थं वञ्जुल-दक्षिणानिल-कुहूकण्ठेषु साङ्केतिक-
  व्याहाराः सुभग त्वदीय-विरहे राधा-सखीनां मिथः ॥

yathā,
unmīlanti nakhair lunīhi vahati kṣaumāñcalenāvṛṇu
  krīḍā-kānanam āviśanti valaya-kvāṇair muhus trāsaya |
itthaṃ vañjula-dakṣiṇānila-kuhūkaṇṭheṣu sāṅketika-
  vyāhārāḥ subhaga tvadīya-virahe rādhā-sakhīnāṃ mithaḥ ||

unmīlanti—they are opening; nakhaiḥ—with fingernails; lunihi—you should cut; vahati—it blows; kṣauma—of the garment; añcalena—with the edge; avṛṇu—you should cover; krīḍa—of pastimes; kananam—the forest; avisanti—they enter; valaya—of bracelets; kvanaiḥ—with the sounds; muhuḥ—repeatedly; trāsaya—frighten; ittham—in this way; vañjula—about the āśoka tree; dakṣiṇa—the southern; anila—breeze; kuhū-kaṇṭhisu—and the cuckoos; sāṅketika—existing in the place of the rendezvous; vyāhārāḥ—the utterances (the words); subhaga—O handsome one; tvadīya—from You; virahe—in separation; rādhā—of Rādhā; sakhīnām—of the friends; mithaḥ—mutual.

—They are opening.
— Cut them with your fingernails.
—It is blowing.
— Stop it with the edge of your sari.
—The cuckoos are entering the pastime forest.
—Frighten them with the tinkling of your bracelets.

O handsome Kṛṣṇa, afflicted by separation from You, Rādhā’s friends in the appointed place for the rendezvous spoke such words to one another regarding the aśoka flowers, the pleasant southern breeze, and the cooing cuckoos. (Padyāvali 364)

Commentary:

The above verse does not illustrate the traditional yathā-saṅkhya ornament because a sequence which would serve as the basis for a subsequent enumeration was not established. Paṇḍita-rāja

Jagannātha illustrates yathā-saṅkhya,

druma-paṅkaja-vidvāṃsaḥ sarva-toṣaṇa-poṣakāḥ |
mudhaiva hanta hanyante kuṭhāra-hima-durjanaiḥ ||

“Alas, trees, lotuses, and scholars, the delighters of everyone, are uselessly brought down by axes, frost, and bad people” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara).

Here the yathā-saṅkhya is enhanced by a kriyā-dīpaka (one verb is connected with many nouns).^[1] This is Mammaṭa’s example of yathā-saṅkhya,

ekas tridhā vasasi cetasi citram atra deva dviṣāṃ ca viduṣāṃ ca mṛgī-dṛśāṃ ca |
tāpaṃ ca sammada-rasaṃ ca ratiṃ ca puṣṇan śauryoṣmaṇā ca vinayena ca līlayā ca ||

“How amazing, my lord. Although one, you live in three ways: You abide in the hearts of enemies, scholars, and doe-eyed women by causing burning pain, joyous feelings, and love by means of your fiery valor, your modesty, and your flirting” (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 477).

Here the yathā-saṅkhya is enhanced by the ullekha ornament (angles of description) (11.17-18).

The yathā-saṅkhya ornament has existed since the beginnings of poetry, consequently the poetical theorists honor the tradition by accepting it as a figure of speech. Still, Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha says yathā-saṅkhya does not deserve the designation of ornament since it does not necessitate the poet’s creativity, thus yathā-saṅkhya is simply the absence of the fault called apakrama (bhagna-prakrama, broken symmetry) (7.76).^[2] According to Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa, however, although yathā-saṅkhya is fundamentally not an ornament in the sense that it does not involve much creativity on the part of the poet, the amazement which makes yathā-saṅkhya an ornament is a multiple enumeration of things by the same sequence as the corresponding sequence.^[3]

This is Rudraṭa’s example of yathā-saṅkhya,

kajjala-hima-kanaka-rucaḥ suparṇa-vṛṣa-haṃsa-vāhanāḥ śaṃ vaḥ |
jalanidhi-giri-padma-sthā hari-hara-caturānanā dadatu ||

“They have the splendors of eyeliner, snow, and gold, their carriers are Suparṇa, a bull and a swan, and they abide on an ocean, in a mountain, and on a lotus. May Hari, Hara and Brahmā give auspiciousness to you all” (Kāvyālaṅkāra 7.36).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

iha dīpakānuprāṇakam (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 477).

[2]:

idaṃ tu bodhyam, yathā-saṅkhyānvaya-bodho yathā tathāstu nāma, nātrāgṛhṇīmaḥ. yathā-saṅkhyam alaṅkāra-padavīm eva tāvat katham āroḍhuṃ prabhavatīti tu vicāraṇīyam. na hy asmin loka-siddhe kavi-pratibhā-nirmitatvasyālaṅkāratā-jīvātor leśato’py upalabdhir asti yenālaṅkāra-vyapadeśo manāg api sthāne syāt. ato’pakramatva-rūpa-doṣābhāva eva yathā-saṅkhyam (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 478).

[3]:

yadyapi kavi-pratibhā-nirmitatvasyālaṅkāratā-jīvātor leśato’py abhāvād asya nālaṅkāratvam, tathāpy ekatra padye bahūnāṃ kramānvaye vaicitryād alaṅkāratvenoktaḥ (Uddyota 10.108).