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GLOSSARY
 
subject with which they are implicitly compared. All of Mammata's
examples show an affectation of inferiority for or on the part of the
object of comparison. Rudrața, however, though he gives the same
example in one case, says that the inferiority attaches to the subject of
comparison and thus amounts to an ironic affirmation of that sub-
ject's comparability. He interprets the example already given as a
taunt cast at the girl who is unable to bear the sight of the lotuses.
Compare the following example: "The Model Boy of my time-we
never had but the one-was perfect: perfect in manners, perfect in
dress, perfect in conduct, perfect in filial piety, perfect in exterior
godliness; but at bottom he was a prig; and as for the contents of
his skull, they could have changed place with the contents of a pie, and
nobody would have been the worse off for it but the pie" (Mark Twain).
 
pratyanika
 
pratyanīka, 'counter-attack': (1) a figure in which the object of comparison
is represented as taking revenge for a set-back initially suffered at
the hands of the subject. (2) R 8.92 (93), M 196. (3) yadi tava tayā
jigişos tadvadanam ahāri kāntisarvasvam । mama tatra kim apatitam
tapasi sitâmšo yad evam mām (Rudrața: "The beauty of the cool-
rayed moon, contesting my beloved's glance, has been claimed away;
how does it happen then, O moon, that the sight of you consumes
me?"). (4) "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, / Who is
already sick and pale with grief / That thou her maid art far more
fair than she" (Shakespeare). (5) This is a vyatireka with the tables
turned. The term on whom the revenge is wreaked is ordinarily a
neutral, but may also be the subject of comparison. The English
example is perhaps wide of the mark in that the object of comparison
itself is not only set back initially (by the girl to whom the remark is
directed) but is also finally dishonored (by the sun); but the intent is
the same as that of the Sanskrit: the speaker is disturbed by the
suggestive beauty of the pale moon. Cf. pratipa, where the object
is determined as resentful, but where no element of riposte is present.
 
prasasti
 
prasasti, "flattery: (1) skill at employing words capable of melting the
resistance of others. (2) AP 345.3-4. (5) Prašasti may be divided
into premôkti ('speaking kindnesses') and stuti (praise"). Kanti,
the next sabdârthâlamkāra, is described as the use of such flattery in
appropriate circumstances.