Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c85.97

v2.c85.97

After this classification, Jagannātha follows the conventional way of dividing *dhvani*, infinite aspects as it may present (*asaṃkhya-bheda*), into two broad groups, based on the Denotation (*abhidhā-mūla*) and the Indication (*lakṣaṇā-mūla*) respectively. The former has a threefold aspect, according as it is a suggestion of rasa, alaṃkāra or vastu, while recognition is given to the two cases of the latter, viz., (i) where the expressed meaning passes over to another sense (*arthāntara-saṃkramita-vācya*) and (ii) where the expressed sense is made to disappear entirely (*atyanta-tiraskṛta-vācya*). This brings our author topically to a detailed consideration of rasa-dhvani which is characterised as *parama-ramaṇīya*, and an elaborate discussion of the nature and theory of rasa and bhāva and its constituent elements. He speaks in this connexion of bhāva-dhvani (pp. 74-98) and takes into consideration different phases of rasa and bhāva, such as rasābhāsa (p. 99), bhāva-śānti (p. 102), bhāvotpatti, bhāva-saṃdhi and bhāva-śabalatā (p. 103f)³ ⁴. The discussion of the guṇas come in this context, inasmuch as they are related to the rasa. Jagannātha enumerates and discusses the ten śabda- and artha-guṇas of Vāmana and other older writers ; but he appears to accept only three guṇas after Mammaṭa, viz., mādhurya, ojas and prasāda, classifying them on the basis of their respective effects on the reader's mind, viz., druti (melting), dīpti (brilliance, i.e. expansion) and vikāsa (pervasion)³ ⁵. Jagannātha remarks in this connexion: *guṇānāṃ caiṣāṃ druti-dīpti-vikāsākhyas tisraś citta-vṛttayaḥ krameṇa prayojyaḥ, tat-tad-guṇa-viśiṣṭa-rasa-carvaṇā-janyā iti yāvat*, making clear that the justification of this classification consists in the divergent nature of the mental activity involved in the relish of *rasa*. He does not agree however, with Mammaṭa in the latter's statement that when we speak of a composition as *madhura* we use the word in a secondary sense (as when we say "the appearance of this man is brave"), inasmuch as, the *guṇas* being the properties of the *rasa*, we apply to the 'body' what appertains to the 'soul' of poetry by an extended use of the term. Jagannātha maintains that when we say the sentiment of love (*śṛṅgāra*) is *madhura* in a particular case, we mean to imply its influence, such as *druti* etc., on the mind, and this must be taken to refer not only to *rasa* but also to *śabda* and *artha* and the composition in general (*śabdārtha-rasa-racanā-gatam eva grāhyam*).