Text 55]
Pastimes of Childhood and Youth
229
TRANSLATION
‘My dear sir, in this verse there are five faults and five literary ornaments. I shall state them one after another. Kindly hear Me and then give your judgment.
PURPORT
In the verse beginning with  mahattvaṁ gaṅgāyāḥ  there are five literary ornaments and five examples of faulty composition. There are two examples of the fault called  avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa  and one example each of the faults  viruddha-mati ,  punar-ukti  and  bhagna-krama .
Vimṛṣṭa  means ‘clean,’ and  vidheyāṁśa  means ‘predicate.’ It is a general rule of composition to establish a subject first and then give its predicate. For example, according to Sanskrit grammar if one says, ‘This man is learned,’ his composition is in order. But if one says, ‘Learned is this man,’ the composition is not in order. Such a flaw is called  avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa-doṣa , or the fault of unclean composition. The subject matter to be known of the verse is the glorification of the Ganges, and therefore the word  idam  (‘this’) or what is known should have been placed before instead of after the glorification. The subject matter already known should be placed before the unknown so that its meaning will not be misconstrued.
The second instance of  avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa-doṣa  occurs in the words  dvitīya-śrīlakṣmīr iva . In this composition the word  dvitīya  (‘second’) is  vidheya , or unknown. Placing the unknown first to make the compound word  dvitīya-śrīlakṣmīr  is another fault. The words  dvitīya-śrīlakṣmīr iva  were intended to compare the Ganges to the goddess of fortune, but because of this fault the meaning of the compound word was bewildering.
The third fault is that of  viruddha-mati , or contradictory conception, in the words  bhavānī-bhartuḥ . The word  bhavānī  refers to the wife of Bhava, Lord Śiva. But since Bhavānī is already known as the wife of Lord Śiva, to add the word  bhartā , ‘husband,’ thus forming a compound meaning ‘the husband of the wife of Lord Śiva,’ is contradictory, for thus it appears as if the wife of Lord Śiva had another husband.
The fourth fault is  punar-ukti , or redundancy, which occurs when the verb  vibhavati  (‘flourishes’), which should have ended the composition, is further qualified by the unnecessary adjective  adbhuta-guṇā  (‘endowed with wonderful qualities’). The fifth fault is  bhagna-krama , which means ‘broken order.’ In the first, third and fourth lines there is  anuprāsa , or alliteration, created by the sounds  ta ,  ra  and  bha , but in the second line there is no such  anuprāsa , and therefore the order is broken.
TEXT 55
‘अविमृष्टे-विषेष्ट्यारणं’ – हृष्टे ठाक्कि छिक्ष ।
‘विक्रममति, छग्रक्रम, ‘पूम्पराञ्छ’,—দোষ छিল ॥৫৫॥
‘avimṛṣṭa-vidheyāṁśa’ — dui ṭhāñi cihna
‘viruddha-mati’, ‘bhagna-krama’, ‘punar-ātta’, — doṣa tina