Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric /131

Kalpitopamā : Extended Simile
 
It is recognised as one of the eight figures based on pramāṇa (ie

valid knowledge) by Appayya and a few others.
 

 
When some traditional statement, basd on sound logic and

acceptable in general, is poetically represented, it is known as Aitihya.

eg 1. kalyāṇiī bata gatheyamātheyaṃ laukikī pratibhāti me.

eti jīvantamānando naramṃ varṣaśatādapi.
 

 
कल्याणी बत गाथेयं लौकिकी प्रतिभाति मे ।
 

एति जीवन्तमानन्दो नरं वर्षशतादपि ॥
 

 
This agreeable maxim, to me like a common one, appears
--
That joy of living clings to a person even up to hundred years.
 

 
Definitions
 

 
अष्टौ प्रमाणालंकारा प्रत्यक्षप्रमुखाः क्रमात् । कु. १३१
 
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<headword>कल्पितोपमा</headword>
 
कल्पितोपमा Kalpitopamā : Extended Simile :
 

 
It is kalpita upamā ie a simile based on poetic imagination. Though

it is accepted as a variety of simile by the older rhetoricians

Vāmana and Rudratṭa have accepted it as a separate figure.

According to them, in Upamā (Simile) there should be total and

qualitative similitude between two or more things, but when there

is similarity due to any special quality or qualities the figure of

speech is called Kalpitopamā.
 

 
eg 1. caturāsyaḥ patir lakṣmyāḥ
 

sarvajñas tvam mahipate.
 
ṃ mahīpate.
 
चतुरास्यपतिर्लक्ष्म्याः सर्वज्ञस्त्वं महीपते ।
 

 
The four-mouthed God is the Lord of prosperity (Lakṣmiī).

While thou art, O king, the omniscient divinity.
 

 
Mythically Brahmaā is conceived as the four-mouthed deity who

has acquired all sorts of knowledge of spiritualism and hence he is

known as the Omniscient One. But here the poet eulogises the

king referred to here as the omniscient of all mortals though he is

not as divine as the four-mouthed God.
 

 
Definition
 

 
गुणबाहुल्यतश्च कल्पिता । का सू. ४.२.३
 
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN