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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यथा,
कृष्णस्य सौन्दर्य-भरैर् विनिर्जितः
  कामोऽस्य किञ्चित् प्रतिकर्तुम् अक्षमः |
राधाम् इह प्रीतिमतीं विनिर्णयंस्
  तां बाधतेऽसौ तद्-अगोचरेऽबलाम् ||

yathā,
kṛṣṇasya saundarya-bharair vinirjitaḥ
  kāmo'
sya kiñcit pratikartum akṣamaḥ |
rādhām iha prītimatīṃ vinirṇayaṃs
  tāṃ bādhate'sau tad-agocare'balām
||

kṛṣṇasya—of Kṛṣṇa; saundarya—of the beauty; bharaiḥ—by the profuseness; vinirjitaḥ—defeated; kāmaḥ—Cupid; asya—to Him; kiñcit—something; pratikartum—to return; akṣamaḥ—being unable; rādhām—that Rādhā; iha—toward Him; prīti-matīm—has affection; vinirṇayan—ascertaining; tām—Her; bādhate—bothers; asau—he; tat-agocare—out of His range; abalām—a woman.

Defeated by the profuseness of Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, Cupid is unable to retaliate. Determining that Rādhā loves Him, he directly pains Her when He is out of Her sight. (Govinda-līlāmṛta 11.136)

Commentary:

This is Mammaṭa’s example:

yasya kiñcid apakartum akṣamaḥ kāya-nigraha-gṛhīta-vigrahaḥ |
kānta-vaktra-sadṛśākṛtiṃ kṛtī rāhur indum adhunāpi bādhate ||

“When his head was cut off by Viṣṇu, Rāhu acknowledged the antagonism, but since he is unable to retaliate, now clever Rāhu bothers the moon, whose form resembles His beautiful face” (Śiśupāla-vadha 14.78).

Mammaṭa explains:

indor atra tadīyatā-sambandhi-sambandhāt,

“Here the moon is related to Viṣṇu owing to the connection of “a part in place of the whole”” (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 545 vṛtti).

The moon is related to Viṣṇu’s face, and Viṣṇu’s face is related to Viṣṇu.

Jagannātha illustrates pratyanīka,

jita-mauktika-sampadāṃ radānāṃ saha-vāsena parāṃ mudaṃ dadānām |
virasād adharī-karoti nāsām adhunā sāhasa-śāli mauktikaṃ te ||

“Beautiful girl, your teeth defeat the splendor of pearls. Now, out of animosity, your daring nose pearl belittles your nose, which effuses the highest joy since it dwells near your teeth” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 494).

This is Viśvanātha Kavirāja’s example:

madhyena tanu-madhyā me madhyaṃ jitavatīty ayam |
ibha-kumbhau bhinatty asyāḥ kuca-kumbha-nibhau hariḥ ||

““That slender woman has defeated my waistline with hers.” So thinking, the lion (hari) assaults the two protuberances of the elephant’s head which resemble her two waterpot-like breasts” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.86).

P.V. Kāṇe comments: “Here the heroine is a rival of the lion, whom she throws into the background by her slender waist. The lion, not being able to do any harm to his rival, the woman, breaks the protuberant temples of the elephant. The temples of the elephant are connected with the woman (tadīya) indirectly, because they are connected with the breasts (by the relation of similarity) which are themselves connected with the woman by avayavāvayavi-bhāva-sambandha. This representation of the lion’s breaking the temples of the elephant results in establishing the superiority of the woman (as regards slenderness of waist) over the lion.”[1]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Kane, P.V. (1995), The Sāhitya-darpaṇa, p. 291.

Other Kavyashastra Concepts:

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Other concepts within the broader category of Hinduism context and sources.

Beautiful girl, A woman, Krishna's beauty.
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