Glossary of Indian Figures of Speech /101

GLOSSARY
 
99
 

madrigal -to require viewing through rhyme and harmony"

(Thomas Hardy). (5) Here the speaker is describing the girl as though

she were a lotus, and in Hardy's example, the girl is described as

though she were a song. The point of "indistinguishability" seems
to cross the subtle boundary of conscious rapprochement and, as

to cross the subtle boundary of conscious rapprochement and, as
such, intrudes upon the domain of samāsôkti, an abbreviated

metaphor in which the subject is not mentioned. I think such cases

must be taken as examples of Mammatța's sloppy encyclopedism.

ananyatva, 'identification': (1) a type of atiśayókti in which two qualities
 

or attributes, though in fact contrary, are considered indistin-

guishable. (2) U 2.12. (3) sa dadarśômām ... tapastejaḥsphuritayā

nijalāvaṇyasampadā । kṛśām apy akṛśām eva dṛśyamānām asamśayam

(Udbhata; though Umā is emaciated by her fasting, she appears

full blown because of the beauty which her penance imparts: "He

saw Umā ... wasted away but appearing full blown in the wealth of

beauty born of her ascetic power"). (4) "His departure gave Catherine

the first experimental conviction that a loss may sometimes be a

gain" (Jane Austen). (5) In these examples, two qualities are

mentioned; in the Sanskrit example given under atiśayóôkti, two

objects are "rendered indistinguishable". It would seem that this

latter case is most typical of atiśayoôkti, given as it is by most of the

writers whether they allow subtypes or not (Bhāmaha, Daṇḍin,

Vāmana, Udbhaţa, Mammața). This figure resembles an exaggerated

simile (cf. catu upamā), but it should be noticed that the qualities

compared here are contraries (kṛśatvam-akṛśatvam, "loss-gain"). The

aspect of similitude is an incidental consequence of a fortiori

premises. One may ask how the present examples differ from rūpaka

(metaphor). First, there can be no metaphorical identification of

qualities; second, metaphor need not be based on the identification
of items somehow contrary.
 

of items somehow contrary.
ādhikya, 'superabundance': (1) a type of atiśayóôkti in which a quality or

attribute is quantitatively exaggerated out of all proportion. (2)

D 2.219. (3) aho višśālam bhūpāla bhuvanatritayôdaram ।/ māti mātum
as
aśakyo'pi yaśorāśir yad atra te (Dandṇḍin: "The extent of your fame,

itself measureless, comprehends, O King, the prosperity of the three

worlds"). (4) "I will not deceive you; he told me such a monstrous

lie once that it swelled my left ear up, and spread it so that I was

actually not able to see around it; it remained so for months, and

people came miles to see me fan myself with it" (Mark Twain).

(5) Cf. samsśaya, where the attribute is minimized out of all propor-