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...

क्षीरो-दधि-जठर-भवः सह-जन्मा काल-कूटस्य ।
तद् अपि च न सितो न शितिः कौस्तुभ एकः स्वाभावतो रक्तः ||

kṣīro-dadhi-jaṭhara-bhavaḥ saha-janmā kāla-kūṭasya |
tad api ca na sito na śitiḥ kaustubha ekaḥ svābhāvato raktaḥ ||

kṣīra—of milk; udadhi—the ocean; jaṭhara—was inside; bhavaḥ—whose origin; saha—[occured] along with; janmā—whose origin; kālakūṭasya—[the origin] of the kālakūṭa poison; tat api—nevertheless; ca na—nor; sitaḥwhite; na—not; śitiḥblack; kaustubhaḥ—the Kaustubha jewel; ekaḥ—unique; svabhāvataḥ—naturally; raktaḥ—red.

The Kaustubha jewel appeared from the Milk Ocean along with the black kālakūṭa poison. Still, the Kaustubha is unique as it is neither white nor black: It is naturally red. (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 8.294)

This is Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha’s example:

kucābhyām ālīḍhaṃ sahaja-kaṭhinābhyām api rame
  na kāṭhinyaṃ dhatte tava hṛdayam atyanta-mṛdulam
|
mṛgāṅgānām antar janani nivasantī khalu ciraṃ
  na kastūrī dūrī-bhavati nija-saurabhya-vibhavāt
||

“O Mother Lakṣmī, your heart is extremely soft. Although connected with your naturally hard breasts, it does not acquire hardness. Indeed, abiding for a long time within a body part of deer, musk does not remain far from the affluence of its own fragrance” (Rasa-gaṅgādhara).

Poetically speaking, one might assume that the fragrance of musk dissipates as fast as a deer runs away.[1] Two atad-guṇa ornaments occur in the verse, and the second one takes the form of the dṛṣṭānta ornament.[2]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Musk is a substance secreted in the glandular sac under the skin of the abdomen of the male musk deer, having a strong odor, and used in perfumery (Webster’s Dictionary).

[2]:

atra pūrvārdhe para-guṇāgrahaṇaṃ śābdam, sva-guṇa-tyāgābhāvas tv ārthaḥ. uttarārdhagate dṛṣṭānte sva-guṇa-tyāgābhāvaḥ śābdaḥ para-guṇāgrahaṇaṃ tv ārtham (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, KM p. 514).

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