Shringaraprakasha 2.p1.17

2.p1.17

or a woman is addressed: "Speak like a woman!" Even a grammarian, out of contempt, sometimes speaks like a non-grammarian; for it is heard: There were seers named Yarvāṇa and Tarvāṇa who had directly perceived dharma. Thinking, "Only within the sacrificial altar must one not speak barbarously; outside it, out of contempt [it does not matter]," when "yad vā naḥ tad vā naḥ" should have been said, they spoke "yarvāṇas tarvāṇaḥ." A woman also sometimes speaks like a man owing to a lack of boldness that has been adopted, as it is said: // "Victorious is that Karṇāṭa queen Vijayāṅkā, like Sarasvatī herself, / who is the abode of Vaidarbha speech second only to Kālidāsa." // When neither of these two kinds of comparison is intended to be expressed, how can the affix -vati belong to the meaning of iva? Considering this, it is stated: // 2.12 In that regard, in the case of rājavadvṛttam ("conduct like that of a king"), when the speaker's intention is of such a meaning: "the conduct by this king is equal to [that of] a king such as Pṛthu: rājavadvṛttaṃ rājñā," then the affix is established by the very first rule. When, however, the intention is such: "his conduct is like that of King Pṛthu: rājavadvṛttaṃ rājñaḥ," then it is by the second rule. But when the usage rājavadvṛttam is made in the absence of a standard and object of comparison, meaning: "this conduct befits only a king and none other," then the affix -vati is prescribed by "it deserves that" (Pā. 5.1.117); hence the introduction of the rule is not meaningless. // 2.13 Others, however, [hold that] in the rule "equal to that, if it is an action, -vati" (Pā. 5.1.115), under the view of an accusative object, an action cannot be a qualifier of an action; hence they connect the view of an emotion qualified by a syntactic role by means of "it deserves that" (Pā. 5.1.117): the dealing that befits a king, the appearance that befits a deity, the cutting that befits a sword, the gift that befits a brāhmaṇa, the descent that befits a mountain, the subservience that befits a father—these are stated as: rājavat, devavat, asivat, brāhmaṇavat, parvatavat. Its meaning has been illustrated by expressions such as: "dealt with like a king."