Literature

ಭೂಮಿಕೆ

185. Bhṛṅgakīṭa-nyāya

178. Bhakṣite'pi laśune na śānto vyādhiḥ

‘Even after eating garlic the disease remained.’ Garlic is forbidden as per the śāstras. Notwithstanding that, it also has a foul odor. A patient somehow, with great difficulty, ate it assuming that when using it as a medicine it is pardonable. The disease wasn’t cured. But the foul odor stayed. When you do something which you don’t like but do it just for the sake of the result, and it turns out futile, this nyāya is used.

Bhāravi further refers to speech in the conversation between Indra and Arjuna:

प्रसादरम्यमोजस्वि गरीयो लाघवान्वितम्।

         साकाङ्क्षमनुपस्कारं विष्वग्गति निराकुलम्॥

न्यायनिर्णीतसारत्वान्निरपेक्षमिवागमे।

         अप्रकम्प्यतयान्येषामाम्नायवचनोपमम्॥

अलङ्घ्यत्वाज्जनैरन्यैः क्षुभितोदन्वदूर्जितम्।

          औदार्यादर्थसम्पत्तेः शान्तं चित्तमृषेरिव॥ (11.38–40)

169. Bakabandhana-nyāya

Capturing the crane. Someone asked the strategy to capture a crane. The strategist suggests the following: “Keep a lump of butter on the crane’s head. The butter would melt due to the sun, flowing over the eyes, making its eyes useless. Then it would stay in the same place immobile. Then one can easily catch it!”
How would you place the lump of butter on its head without catching it?
This nyāya illustrates the futility of such convoluted and stupid schemes.

157. Piśācanāṃ piśācabhāṣayaivottaraṃ deyam

To make the piśācas understand, we should converse in their own language (piśācabhāṣā). They wouldn’t understand Kannada or Sanskrit! “For the wicked, punishment is the ultimate cure, there is no use in trying to pacify them” Other nyāyas like ‘yakṣānurūpo baliḥ’ or ‘śaṭhaṃ prati śāṭhyam’ also have similar import.

विशेषणात्येतानि कर्तृकर्मादिकारकसापेक्षमपि विवेक्तुं शक्यन्ते। यद्यपि षट्स्वपि कारकेषु विवेचनस्य साध्यतास्ति, तथापि प्रयोगबाहुल्यात् कर्तृकर्मगतानि विशेषणानि प्रामुख्यं भजन्ते। क्वचित् करणाधिकरणगतान्यपि विशेषणानि दृश्यन्ते। सम्प्रदानापादानकारकगतानि विशेषणानि प्रायो न सन्तीत्येव वक्तव्यम्। अतः कर्तृकर्मकरणाधिकरणसम्बद्धान्येव विशेषणान्यत्र सनिदर्शनं प्रस्तूयन्ते॥

147. Paṅkaprakṣālana-nyāya

Paṅka means marshy waters, prakṣālana means to cleanse. Why would one put their hands in the marsh and then cleanse it? It is better to not touch it at all.   There is a verse in Pañcatantra:-

धर्मार्थं यस्य वित्तेहा वरं तस्य निरीहता ।
प्रक्षालनाद्धि पङ्कस्य दूरादस्पर्शनं वरम् ॥

इह जगति कालिदासस्य प्रतिष्ठा बहुविधा जागर्ति। तत्काव्यरचनाचातुरीमनुलक्ष्य तमुपमाकविं रसेश्वरं वैदर्भगिरामावासं च सहेतुकं समामनन्ति सङ्ख्यावन्तः। सकलमिदं स्वागतार्हमेव। परमत्र कटाक्षितान् गुणानतिरिच्य काचिदन्या विच्छित्तिश्चकास्ति कविकुलगुरोः काव्यनिर्मितौ, या तदीयं विशेषणवैशिष्ट्यमनुधावति॥

After Kālidāsa, Bhāravi is perhaps the only poet who steered the ship of Sanskrit narrative poetry along a new route. Successive poets merely followed his lead. Known for investing words with profound meaning, Bhāravi has given some remarkable insights into poetics in his work, Kirātārjunīyam. Unsurprisingly, these insights mainly relate to the clarity and gravitas of poetic content. Let us examine this in some detail.

Yudhiṣṭhira allays Bhīma’s excitement and appreciates his eloquence^[1]: