Glossary of Indian Figures of Speech /100

98
 
GLOSSARY
 
to the point of making them invisible in the moonlight: "Wearing

garlands of white jasmine and clothes of linen, their limbs moist

with sandal paste, the trysting ladies are hidden in the moonlight").

(4) "Pardon, once more; if you are going to load anything more
onto that stater
onto that statement, you want to get a couple of lighters and tow the

rest, because it's drawing all the water there is in the river already:

stick to facts... "(Mark Twain; the "weight" of the statement is

exaggerated to the point of threatening the seaworthiness of the

river packet). (5) Many types of upamaā are based upon exaggerations

of the common property of one sort or another; these distortions

are, however, all subservient to the end of comparison: in hyperbole

there is no end other than the magnification of the subject itself.

Similarly, in utprekṣā, an attribute is figuratively associated with a

subject, but the distortion lies in that unlikely association, not in

the representation of the attribute itself. In hyperbole, the attribute

in its literal form should be naturally inherent in the given subject;

it is only its unworldly (lokâtikräāntagocara) or preposterous exten-

sion that makes it figurative.
 

Different writers have distinguished different characteristic ex-

aggerations. The most common (Bhāmaha, Daṇḍin, Vāmana,

Udbhatța) is that of two objects in the presence of one another being

made indistinguishable by the property which both share (cf.

adhyavasāna). Dandṇḍin recognizes the exaggeration of size to the

point of ultimate smallness (samsśaya), as well as ultimate greatness

(ādhikya). Udbhatța and Mammața allow the inversion of the first

type, where the same subject is considered multiple because of differ-

ent qualities (cf. nānātva). In addition, three types are based upon

a figurative transference of an attribute from one subject to another

(cf. sambhāvyamaānârtha) and are distinguishable only with great

subtlety from other figures variously defined. Lastly, there is ex-

aggeration of a quality by attributing to it the nature of a cause in

respect of its own cause (kāryakāraṇapaur vâpar yaviīparyaya).

adhyavasāna, 'determination': (1) a type of atiśayôkti in which one thing

is characterized as another so as to exaggerate a quality which they

in some degree share. (2) M 153. (3) kamalam anambhasi kamale ca

kuvalaye täāni kanakalatikāyām । săā ca sukumārasubhagêty utpaātapa-

ramparā kêyam (Mammaţa: "A lotus grows where no water is;

on this lotus are two buds; and the lotus with its buds grows on a

golden vine: Who can she be, this concatenation of wonders? Call

her fortunate and lovely"). (4) "She seemed to belong rightly to a