Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu latest issue: With some fresh translations on the art and science of traditional Vaishnava poetic ornamentation.
Excerpt: The Ornament of Sequential Connections Poetry in Sanskrit is considered most relishable if decorated with poetic ornaments. Scholars of the Sanskrit language broadly classify poetic ornaments into two major categories, sabda-alankara , ornaments based on the sounds of the words (such as alliteration and puns), and artha-alankara , ornaments based on the meanings of the words (such as simile, metaphor and hyperbole).
Ultimately, every ornament has one purpose — to touch the minds and hearts of the reader and leave a magical impression. When this magical impression is caused solely due to the words themselves and not due to their innate meanings then such an ornament is known as sabda-alankara. This includes all varieties of rhyming syllables, poetry created using only one or two syllables, and poetry which can be laid out in the form of a diagram, etc. When the magical impression is created not by the words themselves but by their innate meanings then the resultant ornament is known as artha-alankara.
There are hundreds of such meaning-based ornaments. One of them is yatha-sankhya , the ornament of sequential connections. This ornament manifests when a list of items is given in the initial part of a verse and then these items are sequentially connected to another list of items in the latter part of the verse.
An early example of this in Gaudlya-vaisnava literature can be seen in Srila Rupa Goswami’s Padyavall (7):
Due to showing parental affection ( vatsalya ); due to giving a promise of fearlessness ( abhaya-pradana – samaya ); due to removing the distress of the distressed (artarti-nirvapana); due to showing magnanimity ( audarya ); due to removing all sins ( agha-sosana ); and due to facilitating the attainment of unlimited prosperity ( aganita-sreyah-pada-prapana ) — due to all these reasons, the husband of Lakshmi is the only personality worthy of service in all of the worlds. The witnesses to these qualities [in sequence] are: Prahlad, Vibhishan, Gajendra, Draupadi, Ahalya and Dhruva. [Translator’s Note: Six expressions of how the Lord relates with his devotees are described initially in the verse, while the final line offers six examples of those expressions: Prahlad received parental affection from Lord Nrsimhadeva; Vibhishan received fearlessness from the Lord; Gajendra’s distress was removed; Draupadi received the Lord’s limitless magnanimity; Ahalya’s sins were removed by the foot-touch of Lord Ram; and, finally, Dhruva was granted unlimited prosperity in his own planet.] Srilajiva Goswami in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sesa (4.113) defines this ornament as follows: yatha-sankhyam anuddesa uddistanam kramenayat Yatha-sankhya is a sequential connection of the items described. He then gives an example: strinam arinam mitrdndm krsnas tais tair gunair bhavan smaro danda-dharas candras tridhaiko pi bhavam sthitah Towards ladies, enemies and friends, Krishna reciprocated according to their respective moods. Thus he appeared to them, respectively, as cupid, a chastiser, and the moon. In this way he behaved in three ways although he was the same one person.
[Translator’s Note: To the ladies he appeared as beautiful as cupid, to enemies he appeared as a chastiser, and to his friends he appeared as the soothing moon.]
To read the entire e-magazine click here: https://archive.org/details/bindu387