ON THE WORD
UPAMACCHAYA
as found in the Avaloka on
Daarpakasu
I.1
Akemi
Kobayashi
namas tasmai ganesaya yatkanthah puskarayate/ madabhogaghanadhvano nilakanthasya tandave// "Salutation to th
at Ganesa whose throat acts like a kettle-drum making a loud noise (ghanadhvana) because of intoxication when Siva (nilakantha) dances (,just as the sound of clouds (ghanadhvana) acts like a kettle-drum when a peacock (nilakantha) dances)."
Commenting on the quoted marngala-sloka of the Dasarupaka, 1) the fourth passage of Dhanika's Avaloka runs as follows:
atra khandaslesaksipyamanopamacchayalamkarah/
From this commentary, we understand that something called upamacchaya' (simile-shadow) is involved in Dasarupaka I. 1. Unfortunately, the exact mean-ing of this word has hitherto been unclear to us. The trouble is first to be ascribed to the difficulty in understanding the structure of the very upama-cchaya which is considered to exist there. This is pointed out by Bhattanrsimha in his subcommentary on the Avaloka: "The upamacchaya found in the first verse is difficult to understand. Therefore, (Dhanika) says, 'atra khanda-, etc.2) However, this passage of Dhanika's is too brief to be clear in its meaning. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of the word upamacchaya
1) The Dasarupaka of Dhanam jaya, with the Commentary Avaloka by Dhanika and the Sub-commentary Laghutika by Bhattanrsimha, edited with Can) Introduciton and Notes by T. Venkatacharya, The Adyar Library Series, Volume 97. Madras 1969.
2) prathamaslokagataya upamacchayaya eva durbodhatyam/ tenaha atra khandeti/
-1024-according to the Laghutika, Bhattanrsimha's subcommentary.
A)3) The upamacchaya, (which is) brought forth (aksipta) or brought about (ahrta) by means of a fragmentary (khanda) or partial (amsabhuta) slesa (double entendre), is an embellishment (alamkara) (in this verse]. The present participle -aksipyamana-' in the Avaloka is replaced by the past participles in the feminine form, aksipta and ahrta. The element khan daslesa-is paraphrased into khandena slesena. And Bhattanrsimha does not take upa-macchayalamkarali' as a compound. It is evident, then, that 'khan daslesaksip-yamaria- is an instrumental tatpurusa modifying the feminine noun upama-cchaya; and that the last word alamkarah' is a simplex.
Since no such alamkara (figure of speech) as upamacchaya is referred to by any rhetorician, the word alamkara' should be understood in a broader sense in this context.
B)4) The constituents of an upama (simile)5) are an upameya6) (thing to be compared), an upamana7) (means of comparison), a tulyad harma8) (com-mon attribute) and a (n upama) dyotaka (simile-indicator). In this (case), the upameya and the upamana are (Ganesa's) throat" and "kettle-drum"
(respectively). The tulyadharma is "noisiness." The (element) equivalent9) to a (n upama) dyotaka is the affix kyan (-ya-)10) (; which, as in the
de-3) khandena amsabhutena slesena aksipta ahrta upamacchayalamkarah/
4) upamayah khalu upamanopameyatulyadharmadyotakani parikarah/ atra copa-manopameyau kanthah puskaras ca/tulyadharmo dhvanavatta/dyotakasthaniya acararthe vihitah kyanpratyayah/
5) The upama is fully explained by the vrtti on Kavyaprakasa X. 87-91abc and the vrtti on Sahityadarpana X. 14cd-26ab.
6) This is a Patanjalian term for which the Paninian equivalent is 'upamita' (su. 2. 1. 56).
7) This is a Paninian term: su. 2. 1. 55, 2. 1. 10, 3. 2. 79, 3. 4. 45, 5. 4. 97, 5. 4. 137, 6. 1. 204, 6. 2. 2, 6. 2. 80, 6. 2. 127, 6, 2. 145, 6. 2. 169.
8) The Paninian equivalent is samanya: su. 2. 1. 55, 2. 1. 56, 3. 4. 5, 8. 1. 74. 9) Dictionaries do not ascribe this meaning to the word sthaniya. ' The formation
is as follows: N-sthana+cha (su. 5. 4. 10) -N-sthana+iya (su. 7. 1. 2)N-sthan +iya (su. 6. 4. 146). N-sthaniya=N-sthanam iva sthanam yasya=N-ta tulya h (su. 5. 4. 10).
-1023-nominative puspayate, is) prescribed (by Paninill)) in (the sense of "sim-ilar] behaviour" (to be placed after a noun denoting an upamana). Bhattanrsimha refers to the substantial upama before going into the details of the shadowy' upama. The framework of the upama is shown by the sen-tence, "yatkanthah puskarayate" (whose throat acts like a kettle-drum). Here, "Ganesa's throat," the object of description, is to be compared (upameya) with "a kettle -drum"; the latter being often used as a means of comparison (upama-na) when something noisy is described. "Noisiness, " as an attribute common (tulyadharma) to both "Ganesa's throat" and "a kettle-drum, " is the basis of this comparison. The affix kyan (-ya-) in the denominative puskarayate' is here the indicator of comparison (upamadyotaka), like 'iva' in other cases. 12)
There are accessories to this framework: madabhogaghanadhvanah. (making a loud noise because of the swell of intoxication) as a modifier of the subject yatkanthah' (whose throat) and nilakap thasya tartdave' (at the time of Siva's dance) as an adverbial phrase. It is in these that special words are used to make a shadow' perceivable.
C)13) And when this upama is made understood, a second upama is also manifested by the (multivocal) nature of (some of the words) which make
10) Bhattanrsimha agrees with Visvanatha in dealing with the denominative upama. A different view is advanced by Mammata, according to whom the denominative upama is not void of common attribute' but void of upamadyotaka, as the simi-lar action' denoted by the affix kyan is a common attribute there. See the vrtti on Kavyaprakasa X. 96abc.
11) Su. 3. 1. 11: kartuh kartuh kyan salopas ca (upamanad Scare 10).
12) The upamadyotaka is a word or morpheme denotive of comparison such as iva, yatha, -tulya, -vat, etc. It is called 'upamapratipadika' by Mammata and au-pamyavacin' by Visvanatha. While the other three constituents are arthas, the upamadyotaka is a sabda. Thus, strictly speaking, it is not on the same level as the other constituents. It seems to be an invention of rhetoricians, whereas the other three go back to Panini.
13) asyam copamayam pratipadyamanayam pratipadakasvabhavad upamantaram api sphurati/ slistartho hi sabdah* tatpratipadakah/
*Although Venkatacharya reads, slisto 'rtho hi sabdais, I adopt the reading of the Adyar Grantha Palm-leaf MS and the Trivandrum MSS Library MS.
-1022-it (i. e. this main upama) understood. For words involving double mean-ings make it understood (as well as other words not involving double meanings).
"Words involving double meanings" here are 'ghana' and nilakantha.' Con-veying the meanings "loud"14) and "Siva"15) respectively, the two words parti-cipate in making the main upama understood. At the same time, other meanings ("cloud"16) by ghana, and "peacock"17) by nilantha) are also revealed thanks to the multivocal nature of these words. It is these words with double meanings that furnish the key to the second upama.
D)18) The slesa19) (here) is partial, because it involves only (the words) 'ghana' and nilakantha.
As was said above, two meanings are conveyed by the same sentence. But only two of the words of the sentence convey double meanings: The word
'ghana' means "loud" for the main upama, and "cloud" for the second' upama; and the word nilakantha' means "Siva" for the main upama, and "peacock"
for the second' upama. On the other hand, other words, yatkanthah, puskara-yate, -dhvanah and tandave convey meanings to be shared by both the main and second' upamas. 20)
E)21) The second' upama is indeed the shadow of the main upama (, just as) the shadow of a man also looks like the man (himself). Therefore, (when) the (main) upama assumes such a form as "(Ganesa's) throat
14) More generally the meaning is "dense." Amarakosa, ed. NSP, 2156: ghanam nirantaram sandram.
15) Ibid., 2414: nilakanthah sive pi ca.
16) Ibid., 259: ghana-jimuta-mudira-jalamug-dhumayonayah. 17) Ibid., 1047: mayura barhino barhi nilakantho bhujamgabhuk.
18) khandatvam slesasya ghananilakanthasabdamatragamitvat/
19) Slesa is defined by Kavyaprakasa X. 96cd: slesah sa vakya ekasmin karthata bhavet: "The[case) where more than one meaning is conveyed in one
(and the same) sentence is (the scope of) slesa."
20) The element 'madabhoga' does not participate in the second' upama. Even though such a meaning as "madly swelling (clouds)" or "(clouds) swelling with pride" could logically be possible, it is not in tune with Sanskrit literary tradition.
-1021-making a loud noise acts like a kettle-drum when Siva dances," its shad-ow' also assumes such a form as "The sound of clouds acts like a kettle-drum when a peacock dances."
The word chaya' (shadow) carries important implications in reference to the second' upama.
1) A parallelism in form between the main upama and the second' upama: The word chaya (shadow) suggests that the second upama is analogous in form to the main upama. Just as the shadow of a man, with the reflected image of his limbs, is in form an analogue of the man himself, the second upama is in form an analogue of the main upama. The analogy in form means two things:
i) That the second upama has the same structure as the main one. Just as the shadow of a man is possessed of parts which correspond to those of a man's body, the second' upama is equipped with the same constituents as the main upama ; that is, an upameya, an upamana, a tulyadharma and an upama-d yotaka.
The main upama.
upameya: "Ganesa's throat" (denoted by yatkanthah') upamana: "kettle-drum" (denoted by puskara-') tul yadharma: "noisiness" (suggested by ghanadhvanah') upamadyotaka:
-ya-The shadow upama.
upameya: "the sound of thundering clouds"22) (suggested by ghanadhvanah') upamana: "kettle-drum" (denoted by puskara-')
tulyadharma: (zero)23)
21) prakrtaya upamayas chaya upamayas chaya upamantaram eva bhavati/ manu-syachayapi khalu manusyarupaiva drsyate/ tena ghanadhvano yatkantho nilakan-thasya tandave puskaravad acaratity evamrupaya upamayas chayapi ghanadhvano nilakanthasya tandave puskaravad bhavatity evamrupa bhavati/
22) From the logical point of view, it is "thundering clouds" that should be the upameya to be compared with "Ganesa's throat" in reference to their noisy nature. However, the word 'ghana' as the anterior member of the tatpurusa
ghanadhvan-ah' cannot be the subject of the denominative puskarayate.
23) The tulyadharma of the shadow' upama, which is supposed to be "noisiness,"
-1020-upamadyotaka:
-ya-ii) That there is a syntactical correspondence. Each word that participates in the second upama corresponds syntactically as well as in form to one of the words which constitute the main upama.
SUBJECT ADVERBIAL PHRASE VERB
The main upama: ghanadhvano yatkantho nilakanthasya tandave puskarayate The shadow: ghanadhvano nil akanthasya tandave puskarayate24) Such is not the case in a sabd a-slesa, where two sentence-meanings (vakya-rtha) are obtained by separating syllables differently and accordingly there is no syntactical correspondence. 25)
2) A parallelism in meaning (an upameya-upamana relation): The fact that four of the six words which participate in the second' upama do not involve puns and give the same meanings to both the main upama and the second upama results in a parallelism in meaning between both the upamas. This is
is omitted.
24) The italicised words convey double meanings.
25) In order to bring the contrast between a sabda-slesa and an alamkara-dhvani into clear relief, the vrtti on Dhvanyaloka II. 25 quotes a very interesting example of sabda-slesa:
yena dhvastamanobhavena bali jitkayah purastrikrto yascodvrttabhu jangaha ravalayo gaiigam ca yo dharayat/ yasyahuh sasimacchirohara iti stutyam ca namamarah payat sa svayaman dhakaksayakarastvam sarvadomadhavah//
This is a poem dedicated to both Visnu and Siva. The verse is read differently according as it is directed to Visnu or Siva.
In reference to Visnu, it is read:
yena dhvastam ano 'bhavena, (yasya) bali-jit kayah pura strikrto, yas ca udvrtta-bhu janga-ha rava-layo, 'gam gam ca yo 'dharayat, yasya ahuh sasimath-Biro-hara iti stutyam ca nama amarah, payat sa svayam andhaka-ksaya-karas tvam sarvado madhavah.
"May the all -giving Madhava, the destroyer of the Andhakas, himself pro-tect you [Madhava who is) non-born, by whom (the demon) Sakata was destroyed, whose Bali-conquering body was once turned into a woman, who is the killer of the arrogant dragons (Kaliyas) (who is) dependent on sound, who held up the mountain and the earth and whom the gods call by the praiseworthy name Cutter of Rahu's head.
-1019-pointed out by the passage of the Avaloka which comes just after the passage in question:
nilakanthasya mayurasya tandave yatha meghadhvanih puskarayate/ Just as the sound of (thundering) clouds acts like a kettle-drum when a peacock dances so Ganesa's throat making a loud noise acts like a ket-tle-drum when Siva dances)."
Thus, the second' upama as a whole is the upamana of the main upama, which is then the upameya: There is an upameya-upamana relation between them.
upameya: Ganesa's throat acting like a kettle-drum when Siva dances
upamana: The sound of thundering clouds acting like a kettle-drum when a pea-cock dances
tulyadharma: (Noisiness at the time when someone dances) upamadyokata: (Omitted because this simile is merely implicit)26)
3) The inferior status of the second' upama: As far as 1) and 2) are con-cerned, this case could be regarded as an artha-slesa. However, there is one more point to be considered. The word chaya' (shadow) suggests something unsubstantial. Just as the shadow of a man is unreal and is not the man him-self, the second' upama is not the genuine meaning of the verse. It is irrelevant
In reference to Siva, it is read:
yena dhvasta-manobhavena bali jit-kayak pura 'strikrto, yas ca udvrtta-bhu janga-hara-valayo gamgam ca yo dharayat, yasya ahuh sasimat-siro hara iti stutyam ca nama amarah, payat sa svayam andhaka-ksayakaras tvam sarvada uma-dhavah.
"May Uma's husband, the killer of Andhaka, himelf always protect you! (Uma's husband who) destroyed Kama, by whom the body of (Visnu) the conqueror of Bali (,) was once turned into an arrow, whose necklaces and bracelets are swollen serpents, who held the Ganges (on his head), and whom the gods call by the praiseworthy name tiara whose head is (decorated) with the moon.
Thus, in a sabda-slesa, words cannot be replaced by their synonyms; and so, there is no parallelism between two sentences either in meaning or in syntactical structure.
26) This is a simile; in which a comparison is made between two sentence-meanings, a main simile and its shadow.
-1018-(aprakrta) to the context.
Since Dasarupaka I. 1 is a mangala-sloka dedicated to Ganesa and no other words than puskarayate, ghanadhvanih and nilakanthasya tandave mean any-thing that is concerned with "the sound of clouds at the time when a peacock dances," the context primarily restricts the meaning of nilakanthasya tandave to "when Siva dances" and that of ghanadhvanah' to "loud noise (made by Ganesa's throat)." In other words, nilakantha' and ghana, in spite of their potential multivocal function, are prevented by the context from denoting the other meanings "peacock" and "cloud" respectively. Therefore, the second' upa-ma is not a contextual meaning: What we find here is not an artha-slesa, in which two sentence-meanings are equally relevant to the context.
We are reminded here of Anandavardhana's definition of sabda-sakti-dhvani: "(The case) where an alamkara is manifested as being brought forth (in -directly) by the (potential) force of words (and) not as being (-directly) expressed by words is (the scope of) sabd a-sakti-d hvani. 27)
27) Vrtti on Dhvanyaloka II. 25: aksipta evalamkarah sabdasaktya hi prakasate/ yasminn anuktah sabdena sabdasaktyudbhavo hi sah//
The vrtti on Dhvanyaloka II. 25 quotes the following verse form Mayura's Suryasataka:
dattanandah prajanam samucitasamayaklistasrstaih payobhih, purvahne viprakirna disi viramaty ahni samharabhajah/ diptamsor dirghaduhkhaprabhavabhavabhayodanmaduttaranavo, gavo vah pavananam parimitam pritim utpadayantu//
"May the rays of the sun produce immeasurable joy for us! (The rays of the sun) which give delight to creatures by discharging water without trouble at the proper time, which are spread everywhere in the morning and gather when the day closes, which are boats to cross the ocean of the fear of trans-migration, the source of long-lived miseries, and which are the best of
pu-rif ying fires."
The word 'payas' at the end of the first pada and go' at the beginning of the last are multivocal. The former means "water" and "milk, " and the latter means "ray" and "cow."
Since the verse is dedicated to the Sun and the word gavah' is governed by diptamsoh, the genitive of diptamsu' (the sun), the word gavah' denotes no other meaning than "(the sun's) rays" in this context. And accordingly, the word
payas' means nothing but "water" here.
-1017-No other rhetoricians than Dhanika use the term upamacchaya, and Dhanika does not use Anandavardhana's term sabda-sakti-dhvani. However, both Dhan-ika and Anandavardhana are referring to the same thing.
However, another meaning in reference to "cows" is woven into this verse; being suggested by means of the multivocal function of the two words go' and payas': "(the cows) which give delight by discharging milk without trouble at the proper time, which are spread everywhere in the morning and gather when the day closes, etc. "This is the "shadow" meaning of the sentence.
There is an upameya-upamana relation between the relevant sentence-meaning and the irrelevant one. Since the irrelevant sentence-meaning is merely implicit
(vyangya), this relation between the two sentence-meanings is also implicit. This is a case of sabda-sakti-dhvani, as an upama alamkara is implicit here.
On the other hand, the artha-slesa aims at referring to two things equally: Two sentence-meanings are on the same level there. The vrtti on Sahityadarpana X. 57 gives the following verse as an example of the artha-slesa:
pravartayan kriyah sadhvir malinyam haritam haran/ mahasa bhuyasa dipto virajati vibhakarah//
"Brilliant with rich lustre, King Vibhakara or the sun shines, occasioning the performance of good actions and despelling the gloom of the quarters." This verse describes both King Vibhakara and the sun, both being denoted by the word vbhakara. Every word here is concerned with both the king and the sun. Since the former is being compared with the latter, there is an upameya-upamana relation between the two sentence-meanings. Unlike in an alamkara-dhvani, however, the two meanings are equally relevant.
