Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric /236

एकत्र विषये व्यक्तमुभयालंकृतिर्यदि
तदापर: संकर: स्यादिति विविध एव सः ॥ अ-कौ. ३१७-३१९
एकमपेक्ष्यान्यस्य प्रादुर्भावे तु संकरः प्रोक्तः ॥
साधकबाधकमानाभावाच्चैकस्य निर्णयाभावे ।
एकपदाच्छब्दार्थालंकृत्योरवगन्तव्यः ॥ अ-कौ. ६४-६५
 
<headword>सम</headword>
 
समम् Samam : Equal :
 
Sama (otherwise called Sāmya) is just the opposite of Viṣama
(unequal). As a figure of speech Sama implies some sort of connec-
tion or link between two things which are mutually equal due to
their fitness. Here fitness signifies that the things likened together
are either equally good or bad. This figure may also be a case of
Upamā (Simile) or Rūpaka (Metaphor), but such a statement as we
find in Sama bears a special charm of its own due to cleverness of
the poetic expression, and therefore, it is separately recognised as
a different alaṃkāra.
 
Most of the rhetoricians admit that Sama is the expression of
union of two equal things which bear similarity due to their mutual
status. But Vāgbhaṭa, on the contrary, defines Sama as a link
between worthy and unworthy things due to their mutual <flag>propri-
ety</flag>. Bhoja remarks that in Sāmya similitude between two different
things is revealed due to cleverness of statement and such clever-
ness or dexterity comes through various ways, namely
(i) resemblance of the two,
(ii) superiority of either of the two,
(iii) inferiority of either of the two,
(iv) both resemblance and superiority of the two.
eg 1. tad vaktraṃ yadi mudritā śaśikathā taccet smitaṃ kā sudhā.
taccakṣur yadi hāritaṃ kuvalayais tāś ced giro dhiṅmadhu.
dhik kandarpa-dhanur bhruvau ca yadi te kimṃ vaā bahu brūmahe
tat satyamṃ punar-ukta-vastu-vimu khaḥ sargakramo vedhasaḥ.
तद्वक्त्रं यदि मुद्रिता शशिकथा तच्चेत् स्मितं का सुधा
तच्चक्षुर्यदि हारितं कुवलयैस्ताश्चेद् गिरो धिङ्मधु ।