Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric /210

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A Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric
 
हेतुरूपक्रियाभावेऽपि फलं यत् स्याद्विभावना। अ. कौ. ८.२७१

कारणव्यतिरेकसामानाधिकरण्येन प्रतिपद्यमाना कार्योत्पत्तिर्विभावना । र. २

हेतुं विनापि कार्यं यत्रोक्तं स्याद्विभावना। अ-को. ३७
 
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<headword>विरोध</headword>
 
विरोधः Virodhaḥ : VirodhaḥContradiction: Contradiction:
 

 
The word virodha (vi √√rudh a <ghañ) literally means contradiction incon-

sistency, anti-thesis, contrast, opposing etc. Virodha, otherwise called

Virodhābhāsa, is a rhetorical figure which implies some apparent

incongruity between two opposite objects. Therefore, it gives an

apparent inconsistency between the basic features of objects like

genus (jāti), attribute (gunṇa) action (kriyā) or object (dravya). Such

contradiction is purely a literary fancy and therefore, apparent, but

not real or logical. That is why it is otherwise known as Virodhabhābhāsa.

Due to poetic craftmanship such contradiction brings an additional

charm to the expression of the poet. The Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa

says that any action (kriyā) producing a result uncommon to it is

Virodha. Bhoja says that the figures like Vișṣama, Asangāti, Adhika and

Pratyaniīka are basically different varieties of Virodha. Even if Virodha

has been differentiated from those figures by some rhetoricians, it

bears close resemblance to them. Both Bibhāvanā and Višeşśeṣokti also

show apparent contradiction like that of Virodha but still the nature

of contradiction in Virodha appears to be the widest of all. The former

two figures cause opposition by violating the relation of cause-and-

effect only. The figure Rūpaka (Metaphor) may appear identical with

the present figure (for example mukha-candra or the face totally iden-

tical to the moon) but fundamentally it is different from Virodha since

Rūpaka brings total identity through non-difference between two

closely similar objects, while Virodha brings a different kind of poetic

charm through contradiction.
 

 
The quality of contradiction in Virodha may be classified into

two broad divisions:
 

(i) equal (ie contradiction between two objects
 

belonging to the same class) or
 

(ii) unequal (contradiction between two objects of

different classes).
 
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN