Vakroktijivita 29.4

29.4

atra śrutipeśalatādi svabhāvamasṛṇacchāyatvaṃ kimapi sahṛdayasaṃvedyaṃ parisphurati /
nanu ca lāvaṇyamābhijātyaṃ ca lokottarataruṇīrūpalakṣaṇavastudharmatayā yat prasiddhaṃ tat kathaṃ kāvyasya bhavitumarhatīti cettanna /
yasmādanena nyāyena pūrvaprasiddhayorapi mādhuryaprasādayoḥ kāvyadharmatvaṃ vighaṭate /
mādhuryaṃ hi guḍādimadhuradravyadharmatayā prasiddhaṃ tathāvidhāhlādakāritvasāmānyopacārāt kāvye vyapadiśyate /
tathaiva ca prasādaḥ svacchasalilasphaṭikādidharmatayā prasiddhaḥ sphuṭāvabhāsitvasāmānyopacārāj jhagitipratītikāriṇi kāvye pravartitavyahārastadevaṃvidhavaidagdhyavihitavicitravinyāsaramaṇīrāmaṇīyakaṃ yathā lāvaṇyaśabdābhidheyatayā pratītipeśalatāṃpratipadyate /
tadvadeva ca kāvye kaviśaktikauśalollikhitakāntikamanīyaṃ bandhasaundaryaṃ cetanacamatkārakāritvasāmānyopacārāllavaṇyaśabdavyatirekeṇa śabdāntarābhidheyatāṃ notsahate /
tathaiva ca kāvye svabhāvamasṛṇacchāyatvamābhijātyaśabdenābhidhīyate /
nanu ca kaiścitpratīyamānaṃ vastu lalanālāvaṇyasāmyāllāvaṇyamityutpāditapratīti---

Here, a certain agreeable quality to the ear and an intrinsically smooth luster shines forth, perceptible to connoisseurs.
If one objects: "Now, loveliness (lāvaṇya) and noble breed (ābhijātya) are well known as properties of real entities characterized by the form of an unworldly young woman; how, then, can they belong to poetry?"—that is not correct.
For by that reasoning, even the two previously established qualities, sweetness (mādhurya) and perspicuity (prasāda), would cease to be properties of poetry.
For sweetness is well known as a property of sweet substances like molasses, yet through a metaphorical transfer based on the commonality of producing delight of that kind, it is designated in poetry.
And just so, perspicuity is well known as a property of clear water, crystal, and the like; through a metaphorical transfer based on the commonality of having a clear manifestation, the term is applied to poetry that brings about instantaneous comprehension. Thus, just as the charming beauty of a woman, arranged in a variegated disposition wrought by such refinement, attains elegance of perception under the designation of the word "loveliness";
so too in poetry, the structural beauty, delightful with the luster etched by the power of the poet's skill, cannot bear any other designation than the word "loveliness", through a metaphorical transfer based on the commonality of producing aesthetic wonder in a conscious being.
Just so in poetry, the quality of having an intrinsically smooth luster is designated by the word "noble breed".
If it is objected: "Has it not been conveyed by some that the implied content is loveliness because of its resemblance to the loveliness of a woman?"—[as in:]