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 10.127 [Virodha]
24. Virodha
विरोधः सोऽविरोधेऽपि विरुद्धत्वेन यद् वचः ॥ १०.११०ab ॥
virodhaḥ so'virodhe'pi viruddhatvena yad vacaḥ || 10.110ab ||
virodhaḥ—the ornament called virodha; saḥ—that; avirodhe api—although there is no contradiction; viruddhatvena—in terms of being contradictory; yat—which; vacaḥ—mention.
Virodha (semblance of a contradiction) is a contradictory statement when actually there is no contradiction.
vastuto virodhābhāve’pi viruddhayor ivobhayor uktir virodhaḥ.
The mention of two things which resemble two things that stand in contradiction, although in truth there is no contradiction, constitutes the virodha ornament.
Commentary:
Rudraṭa uses the name virodhābhāsa (semblance of a contradiction) instead of virodha (contradiction, oxymoron).[1] Śrīvatsa-lāñchana Bhaṭṭācārya and Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa say virodha means virodhābhāsa. There is no real contradiction because it is simply a form of poetic expression. If the contradiction were real, that would be a fault in logic. Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha uses the term virodha in his definition, but he explains it as virodhābhāsa.[2] The terms are used interchangeably.
Footnotes and references:
[1]: