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...

[Although the container is vast, the contents seem to exceed it:]

यस्यास् तनोर् अन्तर् अलोकि मात्रा
  विश्वं करे’द्रिः कमलत्वम् आप ।
श्री-राधिकास्याम्बुज-दर्शनोत्था
  मुदो ममुस् ता न हरेर् बतास्याम् ॥

yasyās[1] tanor antar aloki mātrā
  viśvaṃ kare’driḥ kamalatvam āpa
|
śrī-rādhikāsyāmbuja-darśanotthā
  mudo mamus tā na harer batāsyām
||

yasyāḥ tanoḥ—of which body; antaḥ—in the inside; aloki—was seen; mātrā—by the mother; viśvam—the universe; kare—on the hand; adriḥ—the mountain; kamalatvam—the state of being a lotus; āpa—reached; śrī-rādhikā-āsya-ambuja—Śrī Rādhikā’s lotus face; darśana—from seeing; utthāḥ—arisen; mudaḥ—the joys; mamuḥ—were measured; tāḥ—those [joys]; na—not; hareḥ—of Hari; bata—how amazing; asyām—in this [body].

How amazing! The pleasure, arisen from gazing at Rādhikā’s lotus face, in Hari’s body defies measurement, unlike the universe, seen by Yaśodā within it, and unlike Govardhana Hill, which, on His hand, turned out as a lotus. (Govinda-līlāmṛta 17.13)

atrādhāra-bhūtāyās tanor mahatve’py ādheya-bhūtānāṃ mudāṃ tato’pi mahattvam.

Here, although the body, the container, is vast, what is meant to be expressed is that the joy, the contents, is vaster than the body.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

yathā (Govinda-līlāmṛta). The correlative tathā is understood in the last line. Vṛndāvana Cakravartī comments: mudaḥ harer asyāṃ tanau tathā na mamuḥ sthānaṃ na prāpuḥ (Sadānandavidhāyinī 17.13).

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: