Text 1.13

क्रमेणोदाहरणम्,

krameṇodāharaṇam,

Examples are shown in order (this verse is śabda-citra):

ūrjat-sphūrjad-garjanair vāri-vāhāḥ prodyad-vidyud-dāma-vidyotitāśā |
adrāv adrau vidrutā drāghayante danti-bhrāntyā siṃha-saṅgha-prakopān ||

ūrjat—powerful; sphūrjat—thundering; garjanaiḥ—with the roars; vāri-vāhāḥ—the rain clouds (“carriers of water”); prodyat—which are manifest in an excellent way; vidyut-dāma—by flashes of lightning; vidyotita—are brightened; āśāḥ—by whom the directions; adrau adrau—to each mountain; vidrutāḥ—running; drāghayante—increase; danti—for elephants (“which have tusks”); bhrāntyā—by mistaking [clouds]; siṃha-saṅgha—of the multitude of lions; prakopān—the rage.

While dashing from mountain to mountain and brightening the directions with their flashes of lightning, the rainclouds, with their loud roars of thunder, fuel the lions’ anger, since the lions mistake them for elephants. (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 1.18)

Commentary:

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa classes the verse as śabda-citra because ornaments of sound are predominant in it. The alliterations in the verse are: (1) An alliteration (vṛtti anuprāsa) of the sound rj in the first line (it occurs three times), (2) An alliteration (vṛtti anuprāsa) of dy in the second line (it occurs three times), (3) An alliteration (vṛtti anuprāsa) of dr in the third line (it occurs four times), (4) An alliteration (cheka anuprāsa) of nt in “danti-bhrāntyā,” and (5) The alliteration (śruti anuprāsa) in “siṃha-saṅgha” (Commentary 9.4).

The verse also features two ornaments of meaning: (1) The rūpaka ornament (metaphor): “the rain clouds’ loud roars of thunder” (thunder in the form of a roar), and (2) The bhrāntimān ornament (mistaken perception): The lions mistake rainclouds for elephants.

Kavikarṇapūra shows the verse as his example of third-rate poetry and comments: atra kevalaṃ śabda-vaicitryād dhvaner niṣpandabhāvāc cāvaratvam, “The poetry is third-rate because the sounds are amazing and because there is an implied meaning which is lifeless” (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 1.18). However, the verse can be classed as second-rate poetry: According to Kavikarṇapūra (Commentary 6.4) and Paṇḍita-rāja Jagannātha,^[1] the poetry should be classed as second-rate when both the sounds and the meanings are astonishing. In addition, since animals are involved, the verse features a krodha-rati-ābhāsa (a semblance of a real krodha-rati). In Mammaṭa’s methodology, this falls in the category of the ūrjasvī ornament (impetuous) (5.3), therefore the verse could be classed as second-rate poetry only because of that.

However, Kavikarṇapūra reasons that the krodha-rati-ābhāsa is not significant. In third-rate poetry, a sthāyi-bhāva might be apparent, yet it is not intended to be expressed:

rasa-bhāvādi-viṣaya-vivakṣā-virahe sati |
alaṅkāra-nibandho yaḥ sa citra-viṣayo mataḥ ||

“The construction of an ornament when there is no intent to express a rasa, or a bhāva, and so on, is in the scope of third-rate poetry” (Dhvanyāloka 3.42).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

sama-prādhānye tu madhyamataiva (Rasa-gaṅgādhara, Kāvya-mālā edition p. 20).