Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric /195

These lines from Jayadeva's Gītagovinda describe the advent of
the spring. Here musical effect produced by phonetic timbre is
quite befitting to the context.
 
Definitions
 
वर्ण्य स्याद्वर्णवृत्तान्तप्रतिबिम्बस्य वर्णनम् । कु. ६६.१२४
प्रकृतधर्मिणि प्रकृतव्यवहारानुल्लेखेन निरूप्यमाणोऽप्रकृतव्यवहारसम्बन्धो
ललितालंकारः । र २
 
A<headword>लेश</headword>
 
लेशः Leśaḥ : Reverse :
 
T: Leśaḥ: Reverse :
 
Three figures of sense Hetu, Suūkṣma and Lesśa belong to a class by
themselves. Hetu (ie Poetical Cause) has been discussed earlier.
Rhetorically it is Lesśa when the merits or demerits of something are
either concealed or twisted in such a way that the merits appear as
demerits or the demerits appear as merits.
 
Dandṇḍin gives two verieties of Leśa and they occur in the follow-
ing manner:

139
 
(i) the real nature of an object is partially exposed, but it
remains almost veiled and there is neither eulogy nor
decrying about it,

(ii) the real nature of an object is partially exposed in such a
way that either it is praised or blamed; if it is praised it is
but an eulogy instead of its faults; if it is decried it is but a
blemish in spite of its merits.
 
eg 1. akhileşṣu vihangeşṅgeṣu / hanta svacchandcărinacāriṇaḥ.
śuka pañjarabaddhas te / madhurāṇāmṃ girāmṃ phalam.

अखिलेषु विहङ्गेषु / हन्त स्वच्छन्दचारिणः ।
शुक पञ्जरबद्धस्ते / मधुराणां गिरां फलम् ॥

Digitized by
 
Of all the birds, free to fly at will
O parrot,caged only you are;
And it's indeed the result
Of the sweet voice you utter!
 
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN