Sahrdayaloka Part 01

SR No.: 006908
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Tapasvi Nandi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2005
Total Pages: 602
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 14 MB

Page 81

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SAHRDAYĀLOKA As compared to Anandavardhana's flow of words which like that of the great Adi Sankara, and which matches with the pure and serene flow of the Gangā, Kuntaka's verbocity makes his effort less remarkable.
Explaining this special togetherness of word and sense, Kuntaka observes : (V.J. I. 17):
"sāhityam anayoh sobhāśālitām prati kā’py asau | anyūna-anatiriktatva
manohāriņy avasthitiḥ ||” “The sāhitya or mutual coherence between word and meaning in respect of beauty is nothing but a unique poetic usage, involving neither more nor less than the exact form of word and meaning required to make the whole beautiful." . (Trans. K. Kris., pp. 311, ibid).
So, for Kuntaka, what is meant by 'sāhitya' is not merely the mutual conherence necessarily found between word and sense, but their extra-ordinary efficiency in artistic usage of the poet to bring joy to the man of taste. The attribute, viz. 'the usage involving neither more nor less than the exact form of word and meaning required to make the whole beautiful is placed to suggest that the two are competing with each other, as it were, to produce delight. Between the two, there should be no excess nor deficiency in respect of the contribution of either.
Kuntaka elaborates the idea as given above by citing three 'antara-ślokas (= nos, 34, 35, 36 under VJ. I. 17, pp. 25, ibid) in which he observes :
“The rise of excellences like 'sweetness' in harmony with the 'style', the employment of figures endowed with abundant artistic beauty; (34)
The full development of 'sentiments' in keeping with the prescribed 'modes' - when all these are competitively (= spardhayā) present in both word and meaning; (35)
We have the quintessence of speech classified as word etc., and causing delight to the reader by its beauty. It is this which is designated here as 'sāhitya'. (36) - (Trans. K. Kris. pp. 312, ibid)
Kuntaka says that the four śāstras of grammar, exegesis, logic and poetics are also of help to every sentence-construction. Among these, in his opinion, poetics is of supreme importance. It confers a beauty of its own on a composition in the absence of which we miss beauty.