Text 7.114

धनुर्ज्या-घोषम् ईशस्य श्रुत्वा त्रस्ताः सुरारयः. अत्र धनुः-शब्दस् तद्-आरूढत्व-बोधनाय. अन्यत्र तु,

dhanurjyā-ghoṣam īśasya śrutvā trastāḥ surārayaḥ. atra dhanuḥ-śabdas tad-ārūḍhatva-bodhanāya. anyatra tu,

In this example: “The gods’ enemies became afraid upon hearing the sound of the Lord’s bowstring (dhanur-jyā = jyā),” the word ‘bow’ (dhanuḥ) is used to cause the perception that the bowstring (jyā) is fastened to it. However, on other occasions the word ‘bowstring’ (jyā) is used by itself:

svarair ākṛtibhis tāṃs tu prakoṣṭhair jyā-hatair api |
rājanya-bandhūn vijñāya dṛṣṭa-pūrvān acintayat ||

By the pitch of their voices, by their bodily shapes, and by their forearms scarred by bowstrings, Jarāsandha understood that they were relatives of Kṣatriyas. He thought he had seen them before. (Bhāgavatam 10.72.22)

atra kevalo jyā-śabdaḥ. uvāca madhurāṃ vācam ity-ādau tu dhātv-arthenaiva viśeṣyasya pratīter viśeṣaṇa-dānāya tat-prayogaḥ. na ca madhuram iti kriyā-viśeṣaṇatveneṣṭa-siddhiḥ, bahuṣu viśeṣaṇeṣu satsu tasyācamatkārāt. evaṃ padābhyāṃ yātīty ādau sati viśeṣaṇe na doṣaḥ.

In a sentence such as: uvāca madhurāṃ vācam, “He spoke sweet words,” the usage of vācam (words) is for the sake of giving an adjective (madhurām, sweet), because the understanding of the noun “words” is already obtained by the meaning of the verb “he spoke”. To avoid a seeming redundancy, the adjective could be turned into an adverb: uvāca madhuram (he spoke sweetly). However, the intended effect of the sentence would not be the same because if that were made a rule and many modifiers would be turned into adverbs, the astonishment would be wanting. Thus there is no fault when an adjective occurs in a sentence such as: padābhyāṃ yāti, “He goes with the feet.”^[1]

Commentary:

Everyone agrees that by itself the word vācam (words) in jagāda vācam (he spoke words) is faulty. However, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa disagrees with Mammaṭa, who continues his attack on Vāmana by stating that the latter’s example: jagāda madhurāṃ vācaṃ viśadākṣara-śālinīm, “He spoke sweet words abounding in splendid sounds”^[2] is not satisfactory because the word vācam (words) is seemingly faulty since its meaning is already included in the meaning of the verb. Therefore Mammaṭa says that in this example only the usage of adverbs is proper.^[3] The sentence is rephrased as follows: jagāda madhuraṃ vidvān viśadākṣara-śāli ca,^[4] “He spoke sweetly and in such a way that there were many splendid sounds.” By eliminating the noun vācam (words) and turning the adjectives into adverbs, Mammaṭa avoids the fault of punar-ukta in the sentence. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa follows Kavikarṇapūra.^[5]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mammaṭa gives this example: caraṇatra-paritrāṇa-rahitābhyām api drutam, pādābhyāṃ dūram adhvānaṃ vrajann eṣa na khidyate, “He does not feel tired while quickly going for a long distance with feet devoid of shoes” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 293). Here the adjective caraṇatraparitrāṇa-rahitābhyām (devoid of protection in the form of shoes) is given to the noun pādābhyām (with both feet). Mammaṭa implies that in this instance using an adverb to get rid of the noun pādābhyām (with the feet), which is seemingly faulty since the verb ‘to walk’ automatically involves the notion of feet, would be cumbersome.

[2]:

viśeṣaṇasya viśeṣa-pratipatty-artham uktārthasya padasya prayogaḥ. yathā, jagāda madhurāṃ vācaṃ viśadākṣara-śālinīm (Kāvyālaṅkāra-sūtra 2.2.18 vṛtti).

[3]:

na khalu karṇāvataṃsādi-vaj jaghana-kāñcīty-ādi kriyate, “jagāda madhurāṃ vācaṃ viśadākṣara-śālinīm” ity-ādau kriyā-viśeṣaṇatve’pi vivakṣitārtha-pratīti-siddhau “gatārthasyāpi viśeṣyasya viśeṣaṇa-dānārthaṃ kvacit prayogaḥ kāryaḥ” iti na yuktam (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 292 vṛtti).

[4]:

Siṅgh, Satyavrata (2009) Kāvya-prakāśa, p. 251.

[5]:

vācaṃ jagādety-ādiṣu vāg-viśeṣaṇārtham eva vācam ity-ādi prayogaḥ, viśeṣaṇābhāve tu vācaṃ jagādeti doṣa eva, dhātv-arthenaiva tat pratīteḥ. tatrāpi kriyā-viśeṣaṇenaiva tad-avagater na dātavyaṃ vācam ity-ādi padam iti kecit, tan na, bahu-viśeṣaṇe kriyā-viśeṣaṇaṃ na camatkāri. evaṃ padbhyāṃ gacchatīty-ādiṣv api viśeṣaṇe sati na doṣaḥ (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 10.126).