Verse 2.247

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.247:

स्तुतिनिन्दाप्रधानेषु वाक्येष्वर्थो न तादृशः ।
पदानां प्रविभागेन यादृशः परिकल्प्यते ॥ २४७ ॥

stutinindāpradhāneṣu vākyeṣvartho na tādṛśaḥ |
padānāṃ pravibhāgena yādṛśaḥ parikalpyate || 247 ||

247. From sentences the chief meanings of which are praise, blame etc. a different meaning is understood than the one obtained from the individual words.

Commentary

[Sometimes, when the meanings of individual words are considered, it consists in condemnation, but the sentence as a whole denotes praise. Sometimes, it is vice versa. Puṇyarāja quotes illustrations. In the first one, the verse as a whole is meant to praise some king by saying that his glory has whitened the whole world whereas the parts of the verse enumerate four things which continue to remain dark even after the king’s glory has spread everywhere. The four things are: (1) The spots on the moon, (2) the neck of Śiva, (3) Murāri, (4) the temples of the elephants of the regions, soiled by the flow of their dark liquor. How can one accept the existence of these parts of the sentence if they denote the opposite of what the whole sentence denotes? The second verse, as a whole, is meant to blame the ocean. But each part of it seems to praise it. Another proof that the parts, namely, the meanings of the individual words, are unreal. ]

The author now expresses the view of the defender of the individual word.