Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c83.21

v2.c83.21

The *lakṣaṇā* being thus of a derivative nature, its relations to *abhidhā* have been summarised differently in different works. The *Nyāya-sūtra* gives an exhaustive list of the relations on account of which a word is used in a secondary or transferred sense for another (II. 2. 63), corresponding to the *lakṣaṇā* of the Alaṃkārikas; but Mukula quotes the authority of Bhartṛmitra¹² who summarises them in a verse into five categories, viz. *saṃbandha* (connexion), *sādṛśya* (similarity), *samavāya* (inherence), *vaiparitya* (contrariety) and *kriyā-yoga* (association through action). ‘The fat Devadatta does not eat in the daytime’ (*pīno devadatto divā na bhuṅkte*) ‘the lad is a lion’ (*siṃho māṇavakaḥ*), ‘the herd-station on the Ganges’ (*gaṅgāyāṃ ghoṣaḥ*); ‘this fool is a Bṛhaspati’ (*bṛhaspatir ayaṃ mūrkhaḥ*) and ‘in the great war thou art a Śatrughna’ (*mahati samare śatrughnas tvam*) are given as respective instances of the usage. We need not further dilate upon these niceties of analysis, nor enter into the elaborate classifications of *lakṣaṇā*, but we may note here that the *lakṣaṇā* or transferred expression lies at the root of figures like metaphor and of metaphorical mode generally, which consist in the fancied transference of the qualities or action of one object to another. It has been pointed out that the transferred expression, resolving into the metaphorical, is the source of a particular beauty, because the special motive (*prayojana*) with which the poet chooses the transferred expression becomes realised along with it, without being directly or at all expressed. When we say, for instance, ‘youth is the springtime of life’, we mean to imply at once, without directly expressing it, the beauty, vigour or enjoyments of spring-time. The *prayojana* or motive, though unexpressed, is yet apprehended. This is supposed to be one of the reasons, as we shall see, why we should admit, besides Denotation and Indication, a third function of *vyañjanā* or suggestion, by which something not expressed is revealed.