Part 2e - Rasa (5): Karuṇa or the sentiment of pathos

Karuṇarasa generates from the advent of what is unpleasant or from the loss of what is loved. The learned call it to be of dove-coloured and its presiding deity is the god of death. Its sthāyibhāva is sorrow and the ālamabavibhāva is the thing sorrowed for. The uddīpanavibhāva here, is such things as when this i.e. the dead body of the loved one is being burnt. Its anubhāvas are the cursing one’s destiny, falling on the ground, wailing etc., changes of colour, sighs and sobs, stupefaction and raving. Its vyabhicāribhāvas are indifference to all worldly objects, fainting, epilepsy, sickness, debility, reminiscences, weariness, distress, insensibility, madness, anxiety etc.^[1] The Karuṇarasa has been suggested in the sadness of Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, at the demise of the great poets like Meṇṭha, Subandhu, Bhāravi and Bāṇa.^[2] Maṅkhaka here, as if, tries to console the goddess and promises to create poetry which would make Her forget the pain and sorrow, that She feels at their death. The purport of Maṅkhaka is that his kāvya would surpass them in case of merit.

In the canto III, Maṅkhaka expresses his own sorrowful condition.^[3] The poet relates that in his dream, his deceased father appeared before him and suddenly, he awakes from sleep, then he begins to search for his father just in vain, as he was unable to find his father, which is really a situation of utter sadness and despondency for the poet.

Again, there is a verse in the canto VIII, where the trees are described as shaking their arm-like branches and crying with the humming of black-bees.^[4] The trees are, as if, expressing their unbearable grief, being robbed of their flowers, during flower-plucking.

In canto XVI, the pitiful condition of the oppressed gods, waiting to meet Śiva is referred to in the verses viz. yaste kuṃkumapaṅka^[5]….., etattarkaya kautukaṃ^[6]….., phūtkāraistudato’pyapara^[7] …...

Again, in canto XVII, Śiva’s observation of the melancholy of the gods, approaching Him has been narrated in the verses viz. prāptānāṃ mama^[8] ….., viśvāpadgadabhiṣajo’pi^[9] ….., dhyānena stimita^[10] …..., sāvegaṃ yudhi^[11] ….., yatra śrīraniśavinidra^[12] …..,citrodyatkraśima^[13] ….., pāṇḍimnā paricita^[14] ….., niḥśeṣatribhubana^[15] ….., krāntābhiḥ pratidivasā^[16].….,anyeṣāṃ savaṇalihāmapi^[17]......

Moreover, in canto XIX, in the verse 13 also, same thing has been described.^[18]

Besides, in canto XVII also, the piteous condition of the gods due to the torture of the demon inflicted upon the gods are represented in the verses viz. yāḥ krīdadvibudā^[19].….., pāśairvaddhaśirodharāḥ^[20] …..., kiṃ vānyatte^[21] …...

Among these verses, the verses from canto XVI, XVII and XIX are the instances, which actually increase the beauty of the predominant sentiment.

Anyway, these uses are really very charming instances of Karuṇarasa, found in the Śrīkaṇṭhacarita of Maṅkhaka.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

iṣṭanāśādaniṣṭāpteḥ karanākhyo rasa bhavet/
dhīraiḥ kapatavarṇo’yaṃ kathito yamadaivataḥ/
śoko’tra sthāyibhāvaḥ syācchocyamālambanaṃ mataṃ/
tasya dāhādikāvasthā bhaveduddīpanaṃ punaḥ/
anubhāvā daivanindābhūpātakanditādayaḥ/
vaivarṇyocchvāsaniḥśvāsastambhapralapanāni ca/
nirvedamohāpasmāravyādhiglānismṛtiśramāḥ/
viṣādajaḍhatonmādacintādyā vyabhicārinaḥ//
Sāhityadarpaṇa., III. 222-225

[2]:

meṇṭhe svrdviradādhirohiṇi vaśaṃ yāte subandhau vidheḥ śānte hanta ca bhāravau vighaṭite bāṇe viṣādaspṛśaḥ/
vāgdevyā viramantu mantuvidhurā drāgdṛṣṭayaśceṣṭate śiṣṭaḥ kaścana sa prasādayati tāṃ yadvāṇisadvāṇinī//
     Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., II. 53

[3]:

Ibid., III. 77

[4]:

sarvasve sumanomaye’tha samaye tasmingaṇapreyasīlokenāpahṛte jhagityavasitāśeṣaśriyaḥ pādapāḥ/
prāksaṃskāraniṣīdadākulaghanottālālimālāravairbrahmaṇyamudairayanniva haṭhodastāgraśākhābhujaṃ//
     Ibid., VIII. 55

[5]:

Ibid., XVI. 37

[6]:

Ibid., XVI. 43

[7]:

Ibid., XVI. 52

[8]:

Ibid., XVII. 35

[9]:

Ibid., XVII. 36

[10]:

Ibid., XVII. 37

[11]:

Ibid., XVII. 38

[12]:

Ibid., XVII. 39

[13]:

Ibid., XVII. 40

[14]:

Ibid., XVII. 41

[15]:

Ibid., XVII. 42

[16]:

Ibid., XVII. 43

[17]:

Ibid., XVII. 44

[18]:

Ibid., XVII. 13

[19]:

Ibid., XVII. 64

[20]:

Ibid., XVII. 65

[21]:

Ibid., XVII. 66