Setubandha

Author(s): Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 78

9
INTRODUCTION
Kāvyānuśāṣana and the anonymous Sahityamimämsä1. Mahima bhatta criticizes the use of the particle va (iva) after the adjective instead of after the upamana in Setu 2.11 ukkhaadumam va selam), and remarks that the words should be read as selam va ukkha' to avoid ambiguity.2
as
The citations from the Setubandha in Alaṁkāra works give some idea of the style of the poem. The most commonly used figures of speech are, however, the Upama and the Utpreksa: and, generally speaking, the Utprekṣās provide the more interesting examples. In Setu 2.1 the ocean, for instance, is fancied as the youth of Rama's enterprise. This has led to a variety of explanations, but the idea is sufficiently clear. Youth with its ethical problems is the most difficult period of life, and the ocean likewise was a formidable obstacle to the success of Rama's expedition. In Setu 10.39 the earth with the mountains standing and the rivers flowing as before is fancied being carved anew by the moon out of the accumulated mass of darkness3. The imagery is obviously based on the general pattern of the rock-cut architecture of Deccan that was familiar to Pravarasena. Ajanta was, in fact, in the dominion of the younger branch of the Vakaṭakas. The Utprekşă in Setu 9.53 is based on a fanciful incident of family life applied to the lashing of the Suvela mountain by the waves of the sea. The mountain is represented as enduring the chastisement for the sake of its daughters, the streams, married to the Ocean, raging furiously at the reluctance of the brides to leave their paternal home.
65
1 TSS, 1934. Setu 11.56 and 65 are quoted on p. 56 as examples of pralaya (stupor caused by grief). Cf. SK 5-145. Setu 1.7 is quoted on p. 122. There are a few more citations from our poem.
2 Vyaktiviveka, p. 284. KSS.
3 khantuna va ukkinnam sasina tamasamcaam puno vi mahialam. Trans. requires modification. Khantüṇa should be rendered as hewing to go with ukkinnam. Ramadāsa rightly says यथा काष्ठादिकं खनित्वा प्रतिमादिकं क्रियते.