Kavyalankara 2: dvitīyaḥ paricchedaḥ

Wise poets desiring sweetness and lucidity / do not employ very many compounded words.

Some, wishing to express vigor, compound even many words, / as in: "whose locks are yellowed by the pollen of mandāra blossoms" (mandārakusumareṇupiñjaritālakā).

Poetry that is pleasant to hear and not overly compounded in meaning is desired as sweet; / possessing lucidity is that whose meaning is understood even by women and children along with scholars.

Alliteration, along with rhyme, metaphor, illuminator, and simile: / thus only five ornaments of speech have been mentioned by others.

They declare alliteration to be the arrangement of similar phonemes, / as stated in: "What is the use of that excessive worry, my dear?" (kiṃ tayā cintayā kānte nitāntā).

Other intelligent critics, however, consider vulgar alliteration to be different: / "That Bala, whose neck was agitated by a swarm of blue bees around his dangling garland" (sa lolamālānīlālikulākulagalo balaḥ).

Alliterations bearing various senses and not consisting of dissimilar syllables, / through this moderate application, become charming utterances.

Here others also desire Lāṭa alliteration, as in: / "Direct your sight, pleasing to sight; the moon, moon-faced one, has risen."

Rhyme in the beginning, middle, and end, repetition of a metrical quarter, and continuous rhyme, / and rhyme of all metrical quarters—thus it is declared to be fivefold.

The inclusion of sandaṣṭaka, samudga, and the rest is accepted right here. / It may occur at the beginning, or at the middle and the end: thus there are only five, as follows:

By that noble person (sādhunā), with excellence (sādhunā), shining (rājatā), royalty (rājatā) was maintained, / in order to bring benefit (sahitaṃ) and alliance (sahitaṃ) to people who are gathered (saṃgataṃ) and virtuous (saṃgataṃ).

The good person (sādhuḥ), fearing this worthless (asārāt) worldly existence (saṃsārāt), having made an end to sorrow, attains the tranquil path; / wishing for superiority, cut off the birth of diseases, which are hard to subdue and dependent, you who have abandoned injustice!

O steadfast one, your mind is not attached to delightful pleasures; / these captivate even sages, when a lovely woman is joined to them.

Her eyes dark and white, her lower lip like a good cloud, full of joy, her passion manifest, wearing a beautiful garland, / clouds, dark and dense, with dense locks—cause this beloved to long, and depart.

These kings, who have granted complete edicts, their authority never obstructed, / punishing the transgressors who break conduct, have inherited such royal thrones in succession from their fathers.

Thus, in adjacent or separated [quarters], and at the ends of quarters as well, / and entirely in all quarters; such [rhyme] is difficult to compose and good.

The recurrence of phonemes identical in sound / but mutually different in denotation is called rhyme.

Having familiar words, vigorous, with well-joined junctions of words, / lucid, and well-expressed: such is rhyme regarded by master poets.

Profound with various verbal root senses, bearing the guise of rhyme, / that riddle is indeed stated in Rāmaśarman's Acyutottara.

If these poems too are to be understood through commentary like scholarly treatises, / then it is a festival only for the intelligent; alas, the dull-witted are undone!

When the reality of the subject of comparison is figured by the object of comparison / after observing the equality of qualities, they know that as metaphor.

Pertaining to all objects, and turning on a single part: / metaphor is pointed out as twofold. This and that are stated as follows:

Shedding spray as ichor-water, lofty, these cloud-elephants, / issuing forth, intoxicate—these elephants with Indra's rainbow [as tusks].

The deep rumble of the rain-clouds, girdled by lightning-rings, / bearing garlands of cranes, torments that beloved of mine.

The illuminator is desired as threefold, pertaining to the beginning, middle, and end; / because a single item has three positions, it is thus divided into three.

These examples make its name literal through illuminating the meaning; / and by three illustrations, this is indicated as threefold, as follows:

Intoxication produces delight; that [delight produces] love that shatters pride; / that [love produces] longing for union with the beloved; that [longing produces] unbearable grief of the mind.

Spring adorns women wearing garments and garlands, / and the slopes of the mountains resonant with the cries of green pigeons and parrots.

The summer sun wishes to bring an end to the forests resounding with crickets, / to the rivers whose waters are drying up, and to the minds of travelers.

The similarity of the subject of comparison through a slight quality / with an object of comparison that is contrary in place, time, action, etc., is simile.

The two words yathā and iva express similarity between distinct things: / "dark like a blade of dūrvā grass" (dūrvākāṇḍamiva śyāmaṃ), "slender as a śyāmā vine" (tanvī śyāmālatā yathā).

Another [simile] is expressed in a compound without the two words yathā and iva, / as in: "lotus-petal-eyed" (kamalapatrākṣī) and "moon-faced" (śaśāṅkavadanā).

Similarity in action is likewise expressed by the suffix -vat, / as in: "He studies like a twice-born (dvijātivat); and he instructs us like a teacher (guruvat)."

By the setting down of an equivalent entity, the typical comparison is stated, / even without the mention of yathā or iva, because equality of qualities is recognized.

Here a quality such as being common to good people is distinguished; / it brings about similarity even when there is opposition between the two, as in:

How many virtuous persons are there whose wealth is common to the good? / Or how many trees by the roadside are bent with sweet, ripe fruits?

The threefold nature of it stated by some great souls / through the division of censure, praise, and desire to describe, is stated here:

Surely, by the mention of a common property, all three are stated; / all [such classifications as] serial simile and the rest are no better than vain prolixity.

Deficiency, impossibility, difference of gender or number, inversion, / and superiority of the standard of comparison, and likewise unlikeness to it:

these seven defects of simile have been declared by Medhāvin. / Having examples and definitions, they are described here separately.

"His yellow robe trembling in the wind, playfully holding a lotus that shone like the moon, / the hero of the Yadus, wielding his Śārṅga bow, shone like a cloud with a rainbow."

Here, by mentioning Indra's bow, the [warrior's] bow was indeed shown; / but because the robe and the conch were not included, it is called deficient.

There is no complete similarity between any thing and everything else; / poets employ simile according to plausibility.

Where is the unbroken orb of the moon, and where the lusterless face of the beloved? / Yet by some slight common beauty it is compared indeed to the moon.

Moreover, poems are to be evaluated by the rule of the great; / or is complete similarity seen, as stated in the Rājamitra?

"Their eyes half-shut by the sun's rays, miserable, bereft of pride by the lotus-wind, / like virtuous women bereft of husbands in their own homes, the cries died away in the peacocks' throats."

"Blazing arrows flew, as if from his mouth, stationed in the middle of the bow's circle, / like streams of water, blazing fiercely, [issuing] from the midday sun ringed by a halo."

How could there be a falling of flaming streams of water from the sun? / By logic, this is impossible, and therefore it is called impossibility.

In that case, what skilled poet would make a simile with an impossible thing? / Who indeed would make a comparison of the moon with fire?

How is a meaning that possesses hyperbole considered impossible? / And hyperbole of meaning is desired, as in simile and poetic fancy:

"This elephant shines like gathered darkness; / the lake, its waters clear in autumn, is like a fallen piece of the sky."

Now difference of gender and number are stated, together with inversion; / that [difference] is twofold, through inferiority and superiority, and all three are stated as follows:

"You cannot be fathomed by women, even those whose minds are devoted to no other, / like a river whose waves are broken by jagged rocks [cannot be crossed] by one wishing to cross."

"Advancing in front at one place, rushing forward and striking at another, / you have broken the army of your enemies, as a dog breaks a herd of deer."

"This ruddy goose seated on a lotus shines / like the divine Brahmā at the beginning of the aeon, wishing to create living beings."

Is not the hand compared to a blooming lotus, / and the lower lip to the bimba fruit with the luster of a cut coral?

The answer is: this may well be so, but this rule is not approved between feminine and masculine, / while by others it is not accepted even for all three [genders].

"Dressed in yellow robes, holding the Śārṅga bow, Kṛṣṇa assumed a pleasing yet terrifying form, / like a cloud possessing lightning and a rainbow, united with the moon at night."

Because of the mention of the moon, this is said to be superiority [in the standard]; for it / is not mentioned among the objects of comparison, nor is a lotus expressed here.

The rule that 'there is no complete similarity' has been stated at length; / according to the poet's intention, thought here need not be directed to a lotus.

A multiplicity of standards of comparison is proper, but superiority [in attributes] should not occur: / 'fame similar in purity to cow's milk, the kunda flower, and Balarāma.'

Surely, similarity is expressed by even a single standard of comparison; / for the employment of what has already been stated does not enhance a weighty meaning.

"Then, in that forest, elephants following their females, their temples wet with flowing rut, / and peacocks with ornaments of varied plumage, shone like planets with clear bodies in the sky."

Even if similarity of elephants and the like with planets is stated, / even so they share brilliance or fierce power.

Thus the division of simile has been stated, and another will be told again; / another distinctive group [of figures], distinct from simile and the rest, is now set forth:

Apparent denial, corroboration, contrast, peculiar causation, / concise expression, and hyperbole are six other poetic figures.

Among them, apparent denial is considered twofold, having as its scope what is yet to be said and what has been said; / the rest will be indicated in order according to their single form.

What is like a denial of something desired, done with the wish to state a special feature, / the good praise as apparent denial, which is twofold as follows:

"If I, longing, should not behold you even for a moment, then— / let it be just this much; what is the use of saying something else that is displeasing to you?"

"It is a wonder that you have no arrogance, having overrun the earth by your own prowess; / or what cause would suffice to produce a perturbation in the ocean?"

The introduction of another matter apart from the one stated, / conforming to the earlier matter, is to be known as corroboration, as follows:

"There is no anguish in you as you enter the terrifying ranks of the enemy; / whether future outcome will be good or bad, a man's own mind reveals."

Because of expressing the sense of a reason even by the word 'for' to establish what has been stated, / this corroboration is manifested all the more clearly, as follows:

"Mountains bear clouds, even heavy ones that have approached them; / for only the greater can bear the great who come through affection."

The pointing out of a distinction in an object that possesses a standard of comparison / they accept as contrast, because of bringing out a distinction, as follows:

"Your eyes are white and dark, have eyelashes, and are streaked with red lines; / but the white lotus and the blue water-lily are merely white and dark."

When there is a denial of the cause, that manifestation of its effect / is to be known as peculiar causation, provided an explanation is readily available:

"Peacocks are intoxicated without having drunk; the quarters of the sky are agitated without longing; / the kadamba tree is fragrant without being anointed; the water is turbid without having fallen."

Where, upon saying something, another meaning sharing the same qualifiers is understood / because of conciseness of meaning, that is designated concise expression, as follows:

"Possessing a trunk [or: supported by friends], straight [or: honest], free from snakes [or: free from rogues], firm, with many great fruits [or: with many great rewards], / this tree grew tall, and was felled by the wind [or: by a ruler]."

An expression based on a cause that transcends worldly experience / they regard as hyperbole, in its nature as a poetic figure, as follows:

"Concealed by moonlight that robbed the luster of their own blossoms, / the saptacchada trees could only be inferred by the humming of lines of bees."

"If the loose skin of the waters were shed like that of snakes, / then there would be white garments on the bodies of women in the water."

All hyperbole whatsoever is stated in this manner through conjunction with an excess of quality; / one should examine it in accordance with traditional teaching.

This is entirely oblique expression; by it meaning is brought to light. / Effort should be made in this by the poet: what poetic figure is there without it?

Hetu, sūkṣma, and leśa are not accepted as poetic figures, / because they state a mere aggregate of facts and lack oblique expression.

"The sun has set, the moon shines, the birds go to their roost"— / is such a thing poetry? They call this mere news reporting.

Then they know yathāsaṃkhya and utprekṣā as a pair of poetic figures; / utprekṣā has somewhere been termed saṃkhyāna by Medhāvin.

When many unequal things are mentioned first, / and then referred to in successive order, that is called yathāsaṃkhya.

"The lotus, the moon, the black bee, the elephant, the male cuckoo, and the peacock / have been surpassed by you with your face, luster, eyes, gait, voice, and hair."

With its common attribute unexpressed, somewhat joined with a simile, / and endowed with hyperbole through connection with an attribute or action not its own, [such is] utprekṣā:

"Under the guise of the kiṃśuka tree, having climbed up a tree on all sides, / the fire looks as it were upon the forest, [checking] what is burnt and what is unburnt."

Some declare svabhāvokti to be a poetic figure, / as when the natural state of an object is described in its actual condition:

"Shouting, calling out to others, running around in circles, weeping, / the boy turns back the cows with a stick as they come down upon the crops."

This has been stated briefly; elaboration serves only to weary the intellect. / What has not been included may also be inferred along these lines.

Indeed, this ornament of speech has been constructed by me with examples of my own composition; / hereafter, the fine and manifold other rules on ornaments of speech will be set forth.

Thus ends the second chapter in Bhāmaha's Ornament of Poetry.