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...

Go directly to: Concepts.

उदाहरणम्,
प्रणम्य पादौ वृषभानुजायाः प्रसादनं कुर्वति पङ्कजाक्षे ।
तथाम्बुदः प्रांशु जगर्ज वक्षस्-तटीं यथासौ सहसास्य भेजे ॥

udāharaṇam,
praṇamya pādau vṛṣabhānujāyāḥ prasādanaṃ kurvati paṅkajākṣe |
tathāmbudaḥ prāṃśu jagarja vakṣas-taṭīṃ yathāsau sahasāsya bheje ||

praṇamya—after bowing; pādau—at both feet; vṛṣabhānujāyāḥ—of Rādhikā (“born from Vṛṣabhānu”); prasādanam—the propitiation; kurvati—was doing; paṅkaja-akṣe—while the lotus-eyed one; tathā—then; ambudaḥ—a cloud; prāṃśu—very intensely; jagarja—resounded; vakṣaḥ—of the chest; taṭīm—the edge; yathā—when; asau—She; sahasā—at once; asya—of His; bheje—She experienced.

Lotus-eyed Govinda was about to fall at Rādhā’s feet to appease Her pique. Then a cloud thundered. She startled, and at once came near His chest. (adapted from Kāvya-prakāśa verse 534)

samuccaye khale kapota-nipāta-vat kāraṇānāṃ prāptiḥ, iha tv ekasmin kāraṇe puṣkale’py anyasya kākatālīya-vad āpatanam iti bhedaḥ.

In samuccaya, the causes occur just like pigeons fall on the floor of a granary (the causes occur at the same time). In samādhi, however, when one cause is potent enough to accomplish the intended result, another cause happens, by the logic of kāka-tālīya (like a crow and a tāla fruit).

Commentary:

The verse features a roṣa bhāva-śānti (appeasement of pique). Above, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa reiterates Viśvanātha Kavirāja’s methodology of differentiation between those two ornaments. The logical reasoning called kāka-tālīya denotes the concept of coincidence: A crow (kāka) alights on a branch of a tāla tree and a tāla fruit on another branch falls.

This is Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha’s example of samādhi,

āyātaiva niśā mano mṛga-dṛśām unnidram ātanvatī
  māno me katham eṣa samprati nirātaṅkaṃ hṛdi sthāsyati
|
ūhāpoham imaṃ saroja-nayanā yāvad vidhattetarāṃ
  tāvat kāma-nṛpātapatra-suṣamaṃ bimbaṃ babhāse vidhoḥ
||

““Night, which makes the minds of doe-eyed women stay awake, is already here, so why should my pique comfortably remain in my heart now?” Just when the lotus-eyed woman was deliberating upon the pros and cons in this way, the disc of the moon, which had the resplendence of the white umbrella of King Cupid, made its appearance” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara).

Jagannātha elaborates:

atrāpi rātri-sannidhānād api siddhayato māna-vināśasya candrodayād anāyāsena siddhiḥ,

“The termination of the pique, which was already being accomplished by the arrival of night, is easily accomplished by the rise of the moon” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 492).

Other Kavyashastra Concepts:

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Concepts being referred within the main category of Hinduism context and sources.

Sahasa, Lotus-eyed one, Thunder-cloud.

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