Shringaraprakasha 3.p2.14

3.p2.14

ucyate, eva praṣṭavyāḥ uñcaricapradhvaṃ sināmanarthakānāṃ ca varṇāṃnāṃ samūhasya padatvamarthavattayā varṇayanti | vayaṃ tvekārthaparaḥ padasamūho vākyamitayeva pratijānīmahe |tatra padairapi vākyamārabhyate, vākyairapi ca prakaraṇamārabhyate | padairapi ca prakaraṇaiḥ prabandhaṃ ārabhyate| vākyaiḥ padairapi ca taiśca vākyeṣvāpi vākyāni bhavanti| yathā-- kanyārantamayonijanma bhavatāmāste vayaṃ cārthino | ratnaṃ yatkkacidasti tatparaṇamatyasāmāsu śakrādāpi| | kanyāyāśca parārthataiva hi matā tasyāḥ pradānādahaṃ | bandhurve bhavitī pulastyapulahapraṣṭhāśca saṃbandhinaḥ|| 3.69. prakaraṇeśvapi prakaraṇāni yathā--indumatīsvayaṃvare magadheśvarādirājavarṇanādīni | pravandheṣvapi prabandhā yathā--uttaracaritādau garbhanāṭakādīni | yadi vākyameva padasamūhaḥ, kathamāha mahāvārakyepaniṣadācāryo daṇḍī, taiśvarīraṃ ca vākyānāmalaṅkāraśca darśitaḥ| śarīraṃ tāvadiṣṭarthavyavācchinnā padāvalī || iti| vidhiniṣetadhajhāvagatiheturmahāvākyaṃ prabandhaḥ | titrtridhā-- padyaṃ gadyaṃ ca miśraṃ ca | teṣu cchandogataṃ padyaṃ, dhandastu tridhā--akṣaracchandomātrācchandogaṇacchandaśceti| tānyapi pratyekaṃ tridhā-samārdha-samāviṣamabhedāt| tatrākṣaracchandassamaṃ yathā-- āśuśśiśāno vṛṣabho na ighmo ghanāghanaḥ kṣobhaṇaścarṣaṇīnām| sakrandano'nimiṣa eka vīraśśataॅ senā ajayatsākamindraḥ|| ardhasamaṃ yathā-- navonavo bhavati jāyamāno'hnāṃ keturūṣasāmetyagre| bhāgaṃ devebhyo vidadhātvayāyan pracandramāstiriti dārghamāyuḥ|| viṣamaṃ yathā-- na nūnamasti noścaḥ kastadvedayadadbhutam|

It is said in reply: those [theorists] must be questioned who describe a collection of individually meaningless phonemes, which perish upon being successively uttered, as possessing the nature of a word by virtue of having meaning. We, however, assert that a sentence is simply a collection of words directed toward a single meaning. There, a sentence is begun by means of words, and a section is begun by means of sentences. A composition is begun by means of sections and also by means of words. And within sentences, by means of those words and sentences, there are sentences [embedded]. For example: / ‘You possess a gem of a daughter who was not born from a womb, and we are seekers; / wherever there is an excellent gem, it is fit for union [with another], and among us even Indra falls short. / Moreover, a daughter is considered to exist only for the sake of another; through giving her, / I shall become your kinsman, and the foremost sages like Pulastya and Pulaha shall become your relatives.’ [3.69] / Sections within sections [are found] as well, such as the descriptions of the King of Magadha and other kings in the Svayaṃvara of Indumatī. Compositions within compositions [are found] as well, such as the play-within-a-play and the like in the Uttararāmacarita and other works. / If a sentence is merely a collection of words, how does Daṇḍin, the teacher of the Upaniṣad on the great sentence, declare: / ‘The body and the poetic ornament of sentences have been shown; / the body is indeed an assemblage of words demarcated by the desired meaning’? / A composition, being the cause for the understanding of an injunction or a prohibition, is a great sentence. It is of three kinds: verse, prose, and mixed. / Among them, verse is that which adheres to metre; and metre is of three kinds: syllabic metre, moraic metre, and syllabic-foot metre. / These too are each of three kinds, through the divisions of regular, half-regular, and irregular. / There, regular syllabic metre is like: / ‘Sharpening himself swiftly like a fierce bull, the thunderous cloud shaking the peoples, / roaring, unblinking, the one hero—Indra conquered a hundred armies at once.’ / Half-regular is like: / ‘Being born, he becomes ever new, the banner of the days, coming before the dawns; / arriving, he distributes the share to the gods; the moon extends long life.’ / Irregular is like: / ‘Indeed, it does not exist today, nor tomorrow; who knows that which is marvelous? / Another’s mind must be encompassed, or half-done it perishes.’