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...

तत्र शब्दालङ्कारयोर् यथा,

tatra śabdālaṅkārayor yathā,

This shows a saṃsṛṣṭi of two ornaments of sound:

sura-tarur eṣa natānāṃ surata-rucir gopa-ramaṇīnām |
tri-bhuvana-jana-kamanīyo jayatād ābhīra-rāja-yuva-rājaḥ ||

sura-taruḥ—a godly tree; eṣaḥ—this; natānām—for the devotees (those who bow); surata—is romance; ruciḥ—He whose luster; gopa-taruṇīnām—toward the young gopīs; tri-bhuvana-jana—by the people of the three worlds; kamanīyaḥ—who should be desired; jayatāt—may He be victorious; ābhīra—of cowherds; rāja—of the king; yuva-rājaḥ—the crown prince.

May the crown prince of Vraja be glorious. To the devotees He is a wish-fulfilling tree and to the gopīs He effuses romantic bliss. He is the one who should be sought by everyone in the three worlds. (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 7.34)

atra yamakānuprāsayoḥ.

There is a saṃsṛṣṭi of yamaka (the sound surataru at the beginning of the first and second lines) and anuprāsa (alliteration of r in the fourth line).

Commentary:

There is another alliteration of r in “sura-tarur” in the first line and yet another in “surata-rucir” in the second. In addition, “He is a wish-fulfilling tree” (sura-tarur eṣaḥ) is a metaphor. Moreover, “To the devotees He is a wish-fulfilling tree and to the gopīs He effuses romantic bliss” constitutes the ullekha ornament (angles of description) (11.17). Consequently there is a saṃsṛṣṭi of rūpaka, ullekha, yamaka and anuprāsa in the first half of the verse.

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