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 10.228
यथा वा,
अहम् एव गुरुः सुदारुणानाम् इति हालाहल मा स्म तात दृप्यः ।
ननु सन्ति भवादृशानि भूयो भुवने’स्मिन् वचनानि दुर्जनानाम् ॥
yathā vā,
aham eva guruḥ sudāruṇānām iti hālāhala mā sma tāta dṛpyaḥ |
nanu santi bhavādṛśāni bhūyo bhuvane’smin vacanāni durjanānām ||
O Hālāhala poison, do not be puffed-up, thinking that you are the greatest among terrible things. Truly, in this world, the words of wicked people abound and are just as appalling as you. (Kāvya-prakāśa verse 556)
atra hālāhalasyopamānatvam asādharmyād asambhāvyamānam api kalpitaṃ tasyaiva tiraskṛtaye.
In this example, although the hālāhala poison’s being a standard of comparison is inconceivable since its attributes are so distinct that nothing can be compared to it, this imagination is for the purpose of belittling that upamāna [in order to increase the importance of the upameya].
Commentary:
This is Kavikarṇapūra’s example:
aham eva dāruṇatama iti mā kuru kālakūṭa guru-garvam |
tvatto’pi dāruṇatamo durlabha-loke manorāgaḥ ||“O Kālakūṭa poison, do not be so haughty in considering yourself the most dreadful. There is something even more dreadful than you: It is love for Kṛṣṇa, who is difficult to attain” (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 8.281).