2023-03-29 18:10:24 by ambuda-bot
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180
GLOSSARY
types one and two depend on altering the written verse in a system-
atic way, types four and five on false samdhi, and six is a question
which answers itself.
khadga, 'sword': (1) a verse or pair of verses whose syllables can be
arranged, in terms of certain repetitions, in the visual form of a
sword. (2) R 5.2 (6, 7), M 121. (3) märârisakrarāmēbhamukhair
āsāraramhasă । sărârabdhastavā nityam tadartiharaṇakṣamā । mātā
natānāṁ samghaṭṭaḥ śriyām bādhitasambhramā । mānyâtha sīmā
rāmāṇām śam me diśyād umâdijā (Rudraţa: "May Umã, the first
born, show me favor-she who is praised most excellently and with the
violence of a cloudburst by Siva, Indra, Rāma, and Gaņēša, and
who is able to remove their sufferings, mother of the devoted and
collection of bounties, who cancels error, and who serves as the
honorable model of women"). (4) The reader is referred to the appen-
dix of Rudrața's text, where he will find the "picture" which this
verse defines. (5) Such picture verses, generally referred to as bandha
('ligature', 'bond'), are first mentioned in the Agni Purāṇa and con-
stitute probably the most original and indeed the most curious
contribution of that text to poetics. The tantric symbolism of these
verse arrangements is evident, but their actual function is not so.
Some late writers, like Māgha, employ them, but it is clear that they
have no other purpose than to demonstrate the virtuosity of the
author. One chapter (the nineteenth) of the Sisupalavadha contains
a great number of these devices, and one may wonder if there is
not some relation between the virtuosity so demonstrated and the
concurrently rendered climax of the poem: the fight between
Kṛṣṇa and Siśupāla.
gajapadapātha, 'elephant-gait-version': (1) a verse which, when cach of
its four pādas is placed on a separate line, can be read either by vertical
pairs of syllables from left to right, or in the normal way. This
horizontal movement of two syllables at once is likened to the gait
of the elephant, whose two legs are always in unison. (2) R 5.2
(16). (3):
ye nā nā dhī nā vā dhī rā
nă dhī vā rā dhi rā rā jan
kim nā nā śam nā kam śam te
nā śan kan te'śam te te jaḥ
Rudraţa
("Those of your courtiers, O King, who preserve the force of
various epithets, are powerful, who eradicate obstacles and who do
GLOSSARY
types one and two depend on altering the written verse in a system-
atic way, types four and five on false samdhi, and six is a question
which answers itself.
khadga, 'sword': (1) a verse or pair of verses whose syllables can be
arranged, in terms of certain repetitions, in the visual form of a
sword. (2) R 5.2 (6, 7), M 121. (3) märârisakrarāmēbhamukhair
āsāraramhasă । sărârabdhastavā nityam tadartiharaṇakṣamā । mātā
natānāṁ samghaṭṭaḥ śriyām bādhitasambhramā । mānyâtha sīmā
rāmāṇām śam me diśyād umâdijā (Rudraţa: "May Umã, the first
born, show me favor-she who is praised most excellently and with the
violence of a cloudburst by Siva, Indra, Rāma, and Gaņēša, and
who is able to remove their sufferings, mother of the devoted and
collection of bounties, who cancels error, and who serves as the
honorable model of women"). (4) The reader is referred to the appen-
dix of Rudrața's text, where he will find the "picture" which this
verse defines. (5) Such picture verses, generally referred to as bandha
('ligature', 'bond'), are first mentioned in the Agni Purāṇa and con-
stitute probably the most original and indeed the most curious
contribution of that text to poetics. The tantric symbolism of these
verse arrangements is evident, but their actual function is not so.
Some late writers, like Māgha, employ them, but it is clear that they
have no other purpose than to demonstrate the virtuosity of the
author. One chapter (the nineteenth) of the Sisupalavadha contains
a great number of these devices, and one may wonder if there is
not some relation between the virtuosity so demonstrated and the
concurrently rendered climax of the poem: the fight between
Kṛṣṇa and Siśupāla.
gajapadapātha, 'elephant-gait-version': (1) a verse which, when cach of
its four pādas is placed on a separate line, can be read either by vertical
pairs of syllables from left to right, or in the normal way. This
horizontal movement of two syllables at once is likened to the gait
of the elephant, whose two legs are always in unison. (2) R 5.2
(16). (3):
ye nā nā dhī nā vā dhī rā
nă dhī vā rā dhi rā rā jan
kim nā nā śam nā kam śam te
nā śan kan te'śam te te jaḥ
Rudraţa
("Those of your courtiers, O King, who preserve the force of
various epithets, are powerful, who eradicate obstacles and who do