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 2.6
लक्ष्यस्य यथा,
lakṣyasya yathā,
This is an example of a suggestive indirect meaning:
sādhayanty anulavaṃ priyaṃ hariṃ mat-kṛte śramam avāpa yat sakhī |
tac cakāra caritaṃ hitaiṣiṇī bandhurāṅgi karaṇīyam uccakaiḥ ||
sādhayantī—she was achieving; anu-lavam—at every fraction of a second; priyam—the beloved; harim—Hari; mat-kṛte—for my sake; śramam—exertion; avāpa—got; yat—which; sakhī—the female friend; tat—that; cakāra—she did; caritam—a deed; hita-eṣiṇī—she seeks benefit; bandhura—is reclining; aṅgi—in such a way that the body (“it has limbs”); karaṇīyam—that which has to be done; uccakaiḥ—loudly.
She, who was achieving Hari as a beloved and was exerting herself for my sake, is my confidante who, desiring her benefit, did a deed that is loudly done when the body is reclining.
atra sva-sukha-tātparyān mat-kāntaṃ ramayantī tvaṃ śatrutvaṃ kṛtavatīti lakṣyo’rthaḥ kānte sāparādhatva-prakāśanaṃ vyañjayati.
Here, this indirect sense: “You, who are sensually enjoying my lover for your own pleasure, have become an enemy,” hints at the manifestation of an offensive state of mind in the male lover.
Commentary:
In this verse, the figurative usage is based on sarcasm, because mat-kṛte (for my sake) has the opposite sense (for your own pleasure). This is viparīta-lakṣaṇā (figurative usage in the form of the opposite meaning) (irony). The verse is second-rate poetry because the implied sense, “Hari disregarded the woman who is speaking,” is not too subtle (agūḍha) (5.2).