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VAISHALI INSTITUTE RESEARCH BULLE TIN NO. 2
not readily and willingly acceptable. So the gap should not be allowed to be so wide that its bridging up becomes forced and strenuous and consequently unacceptable. On the contrary if the gaps are very narrow the resultant synthesis is commonplace. The passage,
तन्वी स्यामा शिखरिदशना पक्वबिम्बाधरोष्ठी मध्ये क्षामा चकित-हरिणी-प्रेक्षणा निम्ननाभिः । स्रोणीभारादलसगमना स्तोकनम्रा स्तनाभ्याम् या तत्रस्यायुवति विषये सृष्टिराद्येव धातुः ॥
___Uttaramegha 22 has inferior poetry compared to that in,
अनाघ्रातं पुष्पं किसलयमलूनं कररुहैरनाविद्धं रत्नं मधु नवमनास्वादितरसम् । अखण्डं पुण्यानां फलमिव च तद्रूपमनघं न जाने भोक्तारं कमिह समुपस्थास्यति विधिः ॥
Asa 2/44
for the latter has a more composite texture. In the former there are narrow semantic gaps but in the latter wider semantic gaps have been successfully bridged up. The range of working of the poet's imagination in the former case is narrow while in the latter it is extensive. Consequently the latter brings about a larger degree of the expansion of
consciousness viz. 'Camatkāra'. Basically it is the successful bridging up-the coherence of discordant elements that counts. The measure of this success is that the synthesis of discordant elements should be acceptable to the majority of intelligent and cultivated readers.
IV. Literary tradition
Here comes in the question of literary tradition for it plays a great role in formulating the taste of the readers, when Rajasekhara describes Karparamañjarī as having a waist so slender that it could be gripped in the palm of a small baby and having buttocks so large that they could hardly be contained within both the arms, the modern reader is likely to be baffled for these images would not get currency among those used to literary traditions that shun syntheses of this kind. But these images might have been acceptable to the 10th century readers used to the literary traditions in which such images had obtained currency.
1 मण्णे मज्झं तिवलिवलिअं डिम्भमुट्टिए गेज्झं ___णो बाहू हिं रमणफलों वेडिएं जादि दोहिं ।
KM (1-29)
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