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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Text 10.136
यथा वा,
रागः सप्तसु हन्त षट्ष्व् अपि शिशोर् अङ्गेष्व् अलं तुङ्गता
विस्तारस् त्रिषु खर्वता त्रिषु तथा गम्भीरता च त्रिषु ।
दैघ्यं पञ्चसु किं च पञ्चसु सखे सम्प्रेक्ष्यते सूक्ष्मता ।
द्वात्रिंशद्-वर-लक्षणः कथम् असौ गोपेषु सम्भाव्यते ॥
yathā vā,
rāgaḥ saptasu hanta ṣaṭṣv api śiśor aṅgeṣv alaṃ tuṅgatā
vistāras triṣu kharvatā triṣu tathā gambhīratā ca triṣu |
daighyaṃ pañcasu kiṃ ca pañcasu sakhe samprekṣyate sūkṣmatā
dvātriṃśad-vara-lakṣaṇaḥ katham asau gopeṣu sambhāvyate ||
rāgaḥ—redness; saptasu—on seven; hanta—how amazing; ṣaṭsu—on six; api—also; śiśoḥ—of the little boy; aṅgeṣu—on the limbs; alam—intensely; tuṅgatā—elevation; vistāraḥ—expansiveness; triṣu—on three; kharvatā—shortness; triṣu—on three; tathā—and; gambhīratā—depth; ca—and; triṣu—on three; dairghyam—lengthness; pañcasu—on five; kiṃca—moreover; pañcasu sakhe—O friend; samprekṣyate—is eminently observed; sūkṣmatā—fineness; dvātriṃśat—thirty-two; vara—are the best; lakṣaṇaḥ—He whose characteristics; katham—how?; asau—He; gopeṣu—among cowherds; sambhāvyate—is conceived.
This is another example (someone speaks to Nanda):
Seven limbs of His body are red. Six limbs are raised. Three limbs are broad. Three limbs are short. Three limbs are deep. Five limbs are long. And five limbs are fine. How amazing, my friend, I see that your child has thirty-two auspicious marks on His body. How could such a child have been conceived among cowherds? (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 2.1.49)
Commentary:
This verse can also be classed as an old-school atiśayokti-dhvani (implied supereminence) (10.85) because the sense is that Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary child. Rudraṭa defines svabhāvokti as the true rendering, known as such for a long time in the world, of the condition or action of a living being.[1] He expounds: śiśu-mugdha-yuvati-kātara-tiryak-sambhrānta-hīna-pātrāṇām, sā kālāvasthocita-ceṣṭāsu viśeṣato ramyā, “Svabhāvokti is especially charming as regards the suitable gestures and the condition at a certain time of an infant, a simple-minded youthful woman, a disheartened individual, an animal, or a perplexed individual who is lacking something (such as a woman who feels the pang of separation)” (Kāvyālaṅkāra 7.31). Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa accepts Rudraṭa’s statement.[2] On the topic of bhakti-rasa, svabhāvokti has an even wider scope because transcendental natures and forms are unique.
This verse by Paṇḍitarāja Jagannātha illustrates svabhāvokti,
autsukyāt parimilatāṃ trapayā saṅkocam añcatāṃ ca muhuḥ |
nava-saṅgamayor yūnor nayanānām utsavo jayati ||“The joy of the eyes of a newly married young couple which are repeatedly meeting due to eagerness and shying away due to bashfulness is glorious” (Bhāminī-vilāsa 2.43).[3]
Footnotes and references:
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