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 11.37
यथा वा,
हारोऽयं हरिणाक्षीणां लुठति स्तन-मण्डले |
मुक्तानाम् अप्य् अवस्थेयं के वयं स्मर-किङ्कराः ||
yathā vā,
hāro'yaṃ hariṇākṣīṇāṃ luṭhati stana-maṇḍale |
muktānām apy avastheyaṃ ke vayaṃ smara-kiṅkarāḥ ||
The pearl necklace wallows on the doe-eyed woman’s breasts. If this is the condition of the muktās (pearls; liberated souls), then who are we servants of Cupid? (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 10.83)
atra śleṣa-mūlatvād vicchitti-viśeṣaḥ.
Here the distinct literary strikingness is based on the double meaning.
Commentary:
This verse by Kālidāsa is another example:
paśupatir api tāny ahāni kṛcchrād agamayad adrisutā-samāgamotkaḥ |
kam aparam avaśaṃ na viprakuryur vibhum api taṃ yad amī spṛśanti bhāvāḥ ||“Even Śiva passed those days with difficulty while longing for Umā’s arrival. Which other helpless state might people reach, since those emotions even touch him?” (Kumāra-sambhava 6.95)
Arthāpatti essentially consists of two clauses: One meaning is what is to be accounted for (upapādya) and the other is the explanatory reason (upapādaka). In arthāpatti, the explanatory reason is not logically flawless. In philosophy, the classic example of arthāpatti is: “Fat Devadatta does not eat during the day, therefore we presume that he eats at night.” Here the explanatory reason is the first clause.