Text 9.34

यथा,
कलाभिर् निभृतः श्रीमान् राधया समलङ्कृतः |
दीव्यत्-कुवलयः सो’यं विधुर् विजयतेतराम् ॥

yathā,
kalābhir nibhṛtaḥ śrīmān rādhayā samalaṅkṛtaḥ |
dīvyat-kuvalayaḥ so’yaṃ vidhur vijayatetarām ||

kalābhiḥ—with the arts (or with the digits); nibhṛtaḥ—replete; śrīmān—the beautiful one; rādhayā—with Rādhā (or by the constellation named Rādhā); samalaṅkṛtaḥ—properly adorned (or fully adorned); dīvyat—is shining; ku-valayaḥ—because of whom the circle of the Earth (or kuvalaya—because of which the nighttime blue water lily); saḥ ayam—the well-known; vidhuḥ—Kṛṣṇa (or the moon); vijayatetarām—better defeats (or is glorious to a higher degree).

[First interpretation:]
Beautiful Kṛṣṇa knows the sixty-four arts, He is properly adorned with Rādhā, and because of Him the Earth globe is resplendent. He is glorious to a high degree.

[Second interpretation:]
The beautiful moon replete with the kalās and fully adorned by the Rādhā constellation is the reason the nighttime lilies are resplendent. That moon is glorious to a high degree.

atra prakaraṇādi-niyamābhāvāt dvāv apy arthau vācyau.

Here both meanings are literal because there is no restrictive factor such as a context (2.36).

Commentary:

On the full moon day of the month of Vaiśākha (April-May), the moon enters the Rādhā constellation.

The double meaning would be called dhvani if one of them would not make sense according to the context, and so on. The literal double meanings of the words are as follows: (1) kalā (arts; fractions) is a prakṛti-śleṣa, (2) rādhā (with Rādhā; by the Rādhā constellation) is a prakṛti-śleṣa, (3) kuvalaya (orb of the Earth; nighttime lily) is a pada-śleṣa (and a sabhaṅga-śleṣa), and (4) vidhu (Kṛṣṇa; moon) is a prakṛti-śleṣa.

Mammaṭa’s ninth category of śleṣa deserves a separate categorization because sometimes the double meaning of a sentence is achieved with a different positioning of the words in the syntactical connection. This kind of dual sense is achieved by tātparya-vṛtti (the Drift), and not by abhidhā-vṛtti.

For example:

tvayi saṃsthite gadayā śīrṇa-śīrṣaṇy
  asmad-bhuja-cyutayā ye ca tubhyam |
baliṃ haranty ṛṣayo ye ca devāḥ
  svayaṃ sarve na bhaviṣyanty amūlāḥ ||

[Hiraṇyākṣa speaks to Lord Varāha. First interpretation:]

“When You will repose with Your head smashed by the mace (gadayā śīrṇa-śīrṣaṇi) hurled by my arm, all the Ṛṣis, demigods, and others who offer oblations to You will become devoid of a foundation and automatically cease to exist (na bhaviṣyanty amūlāḥ = amūlāḥ santaḥ na bhaviṣyanti).”^[1]

[Second interpretation:]

“When You will repose with Your head not smashed by the mace (gadayāśīrṇa-śīrṣaṇi = gadayā aśīrṇa-śīrṣaṇi) hurled by my arm, naturally all the Ṛṣis, demigods, and others who offer oblations to You will not become devoid of a foundation (na bhaviṣyanty amūlāḥ = amūlāḥ na bhaviṣyanti).” (Bhāgavatam 3.18.5)

As shown in the parentheses, the double meaning on the words na bhaviṣyanty amūlāḥ is achieved by a different positioning of the words, and not by a double meaning on the literal meanings of each word. Thus here tātparya-vṛtti is used, since a double meaning achieved by abhidhā-vṛtti is either sabhaṅga or abhaṅga. Sometimes tātparya takes place with the already existing words (this is called anvaya), and sometimes, as in the first interpretation above, it takes place by supplying one or more necessary words (this syntactical connection is called anuṣaṅga).^[2] Further, the double meaning on gadayā śīrṇa-śīrṣaṇi is a sabhaṅga pada-śleṣa.

In the above examples, each paronomastic meaning is contextual, by the power of Sarasvatī. Sometimes, however, śleṣa consists of two paronomastic meanings which are not contextual.^[3] This happens in the tulya-yogitā ornament (equal connection with an attribute) (10.100). An example is in Commentary 10.102 (in the verse that begins hari-kara-saṅgād).

Further, sometimes a double meaning occurs by differently positioning the word “no” in the sentence. That too is explained by Mammaṭa’s ninth category of śleṣa. For instance:

rajany eṣā ghora-rūpā ghora-sattva-niṣevitā |
pratiyāta vrajaṃ neha stheyaṃ strībhiḥ su-madhyamāḥ ||

“This night is quite frightening, and frightening creatures are lurking about. Return to the cowherd village, slender women. This is not a proper place for women (vrajaṃ pratiyāta, iha strībhiḥ na stheyam).”

Alternatively:

“This night is not frightening (aghora-rūpā). There is no frightening creature lurking about (aghora-sattva-niṣevitā). Do not go back to the cowherd village. Women should remain here, O slender ones (vrajaṃ na pratiyāta, iha strībhiḥ stheyam)!” (Bhāgavatam 10.29.19).

The double meaning is based on Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s commentary. Here also tātparya-vṛtti accomplishes the paronomasia, because a double meaning achieved by differently positioning the word na (no) is neither sabhaṅga nor abhaṅga.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

te sarve svayam eva mat-prayatnam antareṇaiva amūlās tvad-rūpāśraya-nāśād anāśrayāḥ santo na bhaviṣyanti naṅkṣyanty evety arthaḥ (Anvitārtha-prakāśikā 3.18.5). The double meaning is based on Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s commentary.

[2]:

ato bhavāya saṃsārāya na kalpate, tat-kāraṇe vidyamāne’pi tad-yogyo na syād ity arthaḥ. evam ānuṣaṅgika-nyāyena svata eva saṃsāra-nivṛttir uktā, “Therefore: “Such a person is not fit for material life (or transmigration) (bhavāya na kalpate = saṃsārāya yogyaḥ na syāt)—although there may be a cause for it (tat-kāraṇe vidyamāne’pi is supplied).” By the system of supplying necessary words to make the syntactical connection in this way, the cessation of saṃsāra is automatically stated” (Bṛhad-vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī 10.2.37).

[3]:

evaṃ ca yugapad anekatra prakaraṇādy-avatāre śleṣaḥ. krameṇa tad-avatāra āvṛttiḥ. yatraikatraiva tatra vyañjanaiveti bodhyam (Uddyota on Kāvya-prakāśa verse 376); “Besides, in śleṣa, the two objects are either both prakṛta or both aprakṛta” (P.V. Kane (1995), The Sāhityadarpaṇa, p. 200).