Some Suggestive Uses of Alliteration in Sanskrit Court Poetry

Author(s): Kenneth Langer

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1978), pp. 438-
445
Published by: American Oriental Society
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 SOME SUGGESTIVE USES OF ALLITERATION IN
SANSKRIT COURT POETRY

KENNETHLANGER
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Alliteration in Sanskrit court poetry is frequently utilized to suggest an integral relation-

ship or bond of shared qualities between words with similar sounds. Part I of this paper
briefly examines Vedic literature in respect to 1) alliteration as a semantically binding
force, 2) folk etymology, and 3) the tradition of equating certain sounds with correspond-
ing objects and phenomena. From the perspective of these three traditions we can fully
appreciate the classical poets' employment of alliteration to produce semantic bonds.
Drawing from a variety of classical poems and collections representing a wide range of poets
and time periods, Part II cites and discusses striking alliterative clusters which involve
Sanskrit words for woman. This paper explicates six distinct types of semantic relationships
suggested by these words so bound.

I. THE TRADITIONAL CRITICISM of the alamkdra-
Sdstra recognizes the importance of suggestion
in Sanskrit poetry. And yet the alamkdrasastra
fail to discuss certain subtle suggestive devices:
alliteration, assonance, paronomasia, and figura
etymologica,1 as these techniques have been utiliz-
ed to suggest an integral relationship or bond of
shared qualities between words sharing similar
sounds.2 This is particularly surprising in the
light of three distinct pre-classical traditions
each of which served to imbue well-versed Indians
with the notion that similar sounds may suggest
that the entities "represented" by those sounds
are likewise similar. First Gonda, in his Stylistic
Repetitions in the Veda has proven beyond a
doubt that alliteration, which semantically binds
the words involved, informs Vedic texts. Second,
the authors of religious texts were known to
indulge in excessive attempts at binding seemingly
1 Gonda, in distinguishing this term from parono-
masia, rejects Marouzeau's definition of figura etymo-
logica and applies the term solely to that type of parono-
masia in which a verb is used with an accusative case
noun deriving from the same root. As one example he
gives "vivre sa vie." See J. Gonda, Stylistic Repetition
in the Veda, Amsterdam: N.V. Noord-Hollandsche Uit-
gevers Maatschappij, (1959), p. 273.
2 The use of alliteration for this purpose is, of course,
not peculiar to Sanskrit literature. See, for example, R.
Jacobson, "ClosingStatement: Linguistics and Poetics."
in Style in Language, ed. T. Sebeok (Cambridge:M.I.T.
Press, 1975), pp. 357; 367-73.
disparate entities, processes, etc., by an appeal
to word origins. This long tradition of folk
etymology was based not on the rules defining
historical sound shifts that are known to modern
comparative and historical linguistics, but was
founded on the presumption that similar sound
patterns were criteria for positing historical
relationships between words. Third is the theory
which equates certain sounds with distinct entities
to which they belong. The relationship between
the word and thing is accepted as real, not sym-
bolic.
Let us briefly turn to the Vedas for a look at
how similar sound clusters translate into semantic
messages. Throughout this paper I shall often
rely on the term alliteration in its widest sense to
include the aforementioned processes.3
RV. 3,39,6 rather conveniently illustrates not
only alliteration and paronomasia, but rhyme and
homoioteleuton.
gdhd hitdm gihyaam gufham apsdl
hdste dadhe ddkSineddksinadanll
3 For definitions and the history of the term "allitera-
tion," see Gonda, Stylistic Repetitions, p. 177. It should
be noted that these Vedic seers (as well as the classical
poets) made little, if any, distinction between allitera-
tion, assonance, paronomasia, etc. ". . . because it was
the mere repetition of sounds which could strike them in
the first place and which made the greatest appeal to
their imagination." (Gonda, "The Etymologies in the
Ancient Indian Brahmagas,"Lingua, 5 (1955-56), pp. 69-
70.

438

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 LANGER: Suggestive
Him (Vrtra) that had secretedhimself in a hiding place,
deserved to be concealed, concealed in the waters,
he (Indra) took in his right hand, the giver of sacrificial
presents.4
Gonda cites this verse as an example
alliteration, etc. "... help to picture
of sentiments
or dispositions or to express con-
sistency, obsession, insistence . . . ."
merits a closer examination.
Alliteration, as-
sonance, etc., combine the demon Vrtra's activities
and traits in the first half verse and the god
Indra's in the second. Not only does the verse
succeed in sharply differentiating the shameful
Vrtra, who is associated with one set of sounds,
from the victor of this cosmogonic battle who is
associated with another, but the verse also sug-
gests, through assonance, that the waters (apsd)
were the proper place for him who "deserved to
be concealed" (guhyam). "Gdha," "gdhyam"
and "giilham," each, contain two vowels, "u" and
"a," in the same order. The word "apsd" is
formed with the same two vowels although their
order is reversed.6 Similarly, by alliteration,
assonance, paronomasia, and rhyme, it is wholly
appropriate that "the giver of sacrificial presents
(ddksindvan) took (dadhe) [Vrtra] in his right
hand (haste . . ddksine).
Other Vedic verses utilize alliteration and
assonance to associate a subject with a verbal
notion. Gonda cites the following example which
he accompanies with a translation that aptly
retains the sound correspondences: yavo 'si,
yavasmad dvesah "thou art barley; bar from us
enemies, bar evil spirits."?
Vocatives frequently alliterate with imperatives,
suggesting that the persons addressed are indeed
suitable subjects for the pronounced command.8
Alliteration between subject and verb, verb and
object, verb and an instrumental, as well as
4 This verse, with its translation, is from J.
Gonda,
Vedic Literature,(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1975),
p. 225.
5 Ibid.
6 The reversal of vowels in apsd, the word which ends
the description of Vrtra and his exploits, may serve to
stop or even reverse the flow of words. This effect might
suggests that Vrtra himself is "self-contained"and, like
the flow of words, does not easily mix with the world of
Indra.
7 Gonda, Stylistic
Repeitions, p. 190.
8 Ibid., p. 196.
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Uses of Alliteration 439
verb with any other case noun, may be found in
the Veda.
Numerous alliterating word groups, often
etymologically paronomastic (or, to use Gonda's
phrase, "pseudo-paronomastic"), create semantic
of how bonds. Sukrena Socisd "with bright light" (RV.
a variety
1,48,14) and prdtar jarethe jaraneva "in the
morning ye wake up like two old men" (RV. 10,40,
This verse
3)10 exemplify these respective types. Many
formulaic word clusters, which are used to express
a single idea bound by its opposites, as in our
expressions "from top to toe," and "last but not
least" often express a unity of diverse elements
through alliteration and related techniques.1
The comparison in a simile or metaphor (upa-
mdna) may alliterate with the thing compared
(upameya). Here like sound patterns may rein-
force the comparison.12 In this context, as well
as others, we should not ignore the purely stylistic
factors that may motivate a poet to alliterate
words. Gonda, in his Stylistic Repetitions, does
not fail to illustrate with copious examples the
potential import (both stylistic and semantic)
of alliteration, as when it possesses a connective
function in versification or emphasizes strongly
emotional passages.13
It is not surprising that the authors of the
Brdhranas, unlike the Rgvedic seers, were hardly
content with the mere suggestion of identity
through like sound patterns. These ritualists
were relating aspects of the sacrificial, as well as
non-sacrificial, world to their homologues in
heaven, air and earth. In showing these relation-
ships they were not willing to risk misinterpreta-
tion. Accordingly they employed definite terms
of equivalence rather than the ambiguous hints
9 Ibid., p. 194ff.
10 Ibid.,
pp. 179-180.
11 Ibid., p. 179ff. Gonda's research shows
that in
Sanskrit 1 of every 13 phrases is alliterative (p. 180).
He concludes, "alliterationwhich must have been
deeply
rooted in at least part of the pre-historic Indo-European
soil underlines the notional relations between the main
terms of these expressions." (Stylistic Repetitions,p.
12
181).
Gonda, Stylistic Repetitions, p. 196.
13 For the connective function of alliteration in Ka-
lidasa, see W. Schubring, "Jinasena, Mallinatha, Ka-
lidasa," Zeitschrift der Morgenldindischen Gesellschaft,
105 N.F. # 30, (1955), pp. 331-337. A discussion of
different semantic functions of alliteration can be found
in Gonda, Stylistic Repetitions, p. 178ff. and 211
p. (for
rhyme).
 440 Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.4 (1978)

carried by alliteration. The threat of ambiguity
motivated these ancients to couple alliterative
devices with unambiguous statements of identities.
Obsessed with two needs-to relate the seemingly
disparate entities of the cosmos and to discover
the origins of these entities-these ritualists fre-
quently resorted to etymologies14 and etiologies,15
many of which had a correct etymological basis.
However much there may have been a sincere
desire to discover, as linguists, the true origin
and relationship of words, it is irrefutable that
the major thrust of such etymologizing had the
establishment of linguistic bases which would
reveal real bonds between word-concepts for its
end. The context in which we find profuse folk
etymologies in Indian religio-philosophical texts
compels us to conclude that for these Indians
etymological relationships were intended not so
much to furnish historical linguistic insights as
to reveal eternal ties between phenomena.'6
Vedic thought, not to mention the Mimdnfsd
school of religious exegesis, admits the notion that
sounds-far beyond their suggestive or etymolo-
gical functions-correspond to realities. For
example, the word "udgitha" (chanting of the
Sdma Veda) is broken down into three syllables,
each corresponding to aspects of the phenomenal
world. "Ud" is equated with breath, heaven,
sun, and the Sama Veda, "gi" to speech, atmos-
phere, wind, and the Yajur Veda, while food,
earth, fire, and the Rg Veda are reduced to the
syllable "tha.'l7
In short, the traditions of alliteration and
similar sound parallelisms, etymologies based on
such sound correspondences, and religio-philo-
14 See J. Gonda, Old Indian (Leiden-Koln: E. J. Brill,
1971), pp. 197-223; P. Poucha, "Vedische Volksetymo-
logie und das Nirukta," Archiv Orientalni, 7 (1935);
Gonda, "The Etymologies in the Ancient Brahmanas";
M. A. Mehendale, "Upanisadic Etymologies," Bharatiya
Vidya, 20-21 (1960-62), 40-44.
15 Ibid. See particularly Gonda, "The Etymologies in
the Ancient Indian Brahmanas,"p. 80.
16 It must be admitted that a fair numberof
etymologies type of folk or, to use his term, "poetic" etymology:
were motivated by a sincere desire for the historical "... for riming words are perceived as being related in
truth of the relationship between words. Furthermore, their meanings as well." "Meaning in Literature,"
certain etymologies were not intended to be taken Poetics [1971], p. 10).
seriously. See Gonda, "The Etymologies in Ancient
Indian Brahmanas," p. 64.
17 Ibid., pp. 84-85. In his note 56, Gonda cites other
references exemplifying this notion: AiB. 3,46,8; gB.
10,6,2,8; TaittU. 2,6.
sophical notions that equate sounds to real entities
were developed in India long before the advent of
classical Sanskrit poetry.18 Ingrained in the
minds of all well-versed Indians was surely the
belief that alliteration and other such stylistic
processes, as well as etymologies which were based
on corresponding sound patterns, suggest a
semantic bond between the terms so bound.
If we are to accept the thesis that Sanskrit
court poetry utilizes alliteration and like sab-
dilamkcras to this end, our evidence will have
to be internal. Nevertheless, it is my hope that
these pages which have merely touched on an
important traditional function of alliteration and
similar techniques in pre-classical literature will
encourage the reader to accept in Sanskrit court
poetry these stylistic devices which bear semantic
weight. Much kdvya does not abuse this type of
sabddlarrlkdra for the sake of merely achieving
striking repetitions of sound. Kalidasa, for
example, does not dull our senses by a contrived
overuse of alliteration but heightens them through
his restraint.19 I believe that it has been necessary
to stress that "meaningful" alliteration has been a
rigorous tradition in pre-classical India. The
acceptance of this fact should not only add per-
spective to the stylistic techniques under consid-
eration, but should help to minimize the reader's
scepticism as we now turn to the classical poetry.
II. As in Vedic and later literature that preceded
Sanskrit court poetry, alliteration and related
techniques may serve a variety of ends in kavya
literature.20 Nevertheless, we must here confine
18
Rhyme has long been acknowledged as an ancient
device which served to bind words semantically. Gonda
(Stylistic Repetitions,p. 204f.) quotes H. Seidler: "Durch
eine gleiche Lautung in zwei oder mehreren Wortern
wird das mit dieser Lautung verbundene oder verbind-
bare Gefiihl starker aktualisiert. Die Einheit von Lau-
tung und Gefiihl schafft einen Stimmungsgrund,auf dem
nun die Wortgehalte in besonderer Durchleuchtung
erstehen." T. Todorov goes so far as to classify rhyme as a
19 I have noticed countless instances
where Kalidasa
has intentionally avoided the use of a word for woman
which would have created alliteration in the verse.
20 A. Hillebrandt, among others, has noted the use of
alliteration to create various moods. An example is

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 LANGER: Suggestive
ourselves to a review of these techniques where
they create semantic bonds between the words
involved in these processes. I have chosen to
exemplify this process by an examination of
words for women. Confining myself to one such
set will later enable me to reach conclusions about
one important function of alliteration, and to
see how these devices often determine a poet's
choice of words where a large number of synonyms
are available.
Let us begin by considering verses in which the
alliteration of two or more nouns, in addition
to the direct designations of the nouns and the
syntax of the sentence, furnishes a semantic
message. SRK. 754 reads:
unmilanmuku lakar lakundakosapracyotadghanamaka-
randagandhagarbhah/
tam isatpracalavilocandm natdagim daligan pavana
mama sprgdngamangam//
Perfumed, oh wind, with the rich scent of pollen
dripping from jasmine branches dentate with opening
buds,
embrace my love
whose eye half flirts, whose body bends; and then,
touch me on every limb.21
Raghu. IX. 23. on which he writes, ". .. in den Worten
ranarenavo rurudhire rudhirena suradvisam... hat die
haufige Wiederholung des r nicht nur den Zweck, Form-
geschick zu zeigen, sondern das furchtbare Blutbad
klanglich zu malen, das der dahinfahrende Held unter
den Feinden der Gotter anrichtete: 'Des Schlachtfeldes
(der Sonne entgegenwirbelnder) Staub erstarrte durch
das Blut der Gotterfeinde Man wird das hier nicht fir
eine blosse Spielerei des Dichters halten, sondern fur eine
Verwendung sprachlicher Kraft, die uns abhanden ge-
kommen ist. In Indien geht das Verstandnis hierfiir
auf alte Zeit zuriick und hat schon bei dem feindlichen
Zauber die Rauheiten der Sprache, d.h. hartklingende
Worte verwendet; es hat aber, auch ausserhalb der Magie,
fur die ja die Wahl des Wortes Bedeutung hat, den
Poeten des Landes seit altester Zeit nicht gefehlt ....
Wenn die spateren Kunstdichter solchen Formen sich
bedienen, so sind sie nur dem ursprunglichen Gefiihl
dafir gefolgt, haben denn allerdings davon Gebrauch
gemacht, der alle Grenzen iiberschritt und sich in For-
malismus verlor." (Kdliddsa, [Breslau: M & H. Marcus,
1921], S. 106-7).
21 D. H. H. Ingalls, An Anthology of Sanskrit Court
Poetry (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965),
p. 243.
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Uses of Alliteration 441
Here "nat&igim" (my love ... whose body bends)
which ends the third pdda alliterates with "ariga-
marigam" (every limb) which closes the verse.
Bhavabhiuti has succeeded in uniting the hearts
of these two lovers enduring physical separation.
It is worth noting that the word "pavana" (wind)
comes directly between the words "natarigim"
and "argamarigam." Thus the flow of words
reinforces the intent of their meaning. The
separation of the emotionally harmonious lovers
is to be bridged by the wind alone.
Srligdrasataka 39 proclaims that two things alone
are worthy of man's attention-the youth (yau-
vanam) of women and the forest (vanam).
kim iha bahubhir uktair yuktigiinyaih praldpair dva-
yam iha purusnadm sarvada sevaniyaml
abhinavamadaliladdlasam sundarinadm
stanabharaparikhinnam yauvanam va vanam vd//22
VairdgyaSataka 120 expresses the dichotomy
between a beautiful wife (bhdrya sundari) and the
ascetic's cave (dari): ". . . eka bhdryd sundari
va dari va."23 In the first example, the word for
forest (vanam) is embedded within the word for
youth (yauvanam). The verse of the Vairdgya-
Sataka has the word for cave (dari) contained
within the word for beautiful (sundari) in "beauti-
ful wife." Might Bhartrhari be suggesting that
hidden within each of the latter and, I dare say,
more attractive alternatives lies the former?
Is it not suggested that the differences between
beautiful youth, or wives, and ascetics' forests
and caves fade after an intensive pursuit of
either ?
An explicit grouping is often reinforced by
alliteration. In Kum. V. 71 the disguised trident-
bearing god tells the forest dwelling Parvati that
two things, in their desire for Siva, have fallen
into a pitiful state-"the splendid digit of the
moon [kald ca sd kdntimati kaldvatas] and you,
the moonlight of the eyes of the world [tvam asya
lokasya netrakaumudi]." SRK. 377 proclaims
that a vine (lata) and a beloved when
(dayita)
"budding" entice men. In Raghu. XIX.13 the
lap of the hedonist King Agnivarna was occupied
solely by the lovely-sounding vind (vallaki ca
22 grngaragataka 39 of
Subhaditatrigati, ed. D. D.
Kosambi, (Poona, 1957), p. 80.
23
VairagyaSatakam 120 (Oriental Publishing Co.,
Bombay) cited in Apte's Sanskrit-English Dictionary,
p. 803.
 442 Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.4 (1978)
hrdayam,gamasvani) and his lovely-eyed lass with
her sweet voice (valguvag api ca vCmnalocand).
Countless instances of alliteration merely suggest
a semantic connection rather than reinforce an
explicit notion of unity. Raghu. VII.25 offers a
challenging example of multiple alliterations and
word plays.
nitambagurvi gurund prayukta vadhur vidhatrprati-
mena tenal
cakara sd mattacakoranetrd lajjdvati ldjavisargam
agnaul/
Heavy-hipped (Indumati) with eyes like a maddened
cakora bird,
after being instructed by her guru, the very image of
Brahma,
embarrassed, made an offering of rice into the fire.
In the first two padas, the association of Indumati,
who is "nitambagurvi vadhur," and her preceptor,
a "guru" who is the image of "vidhdtr," is strength-
ened by these Sabddlamkdras. The other connec-
tions-that she of maddened cakora eyes made
(cakdra) an offering of rice (Idja) while embarrass-
ed (lajjdvati)-are hardly expressing one to one
correspondences. Nevertheless, I believe that it
can be said that the consistencies of sound between
words referring to Indumati's physical attributes,
actions, and objects of action suggest the overall
harmony of Aja's newly acquired bride.
A second major category may be established in
which vocatives, in our case women addressed,
alliterate with nouns designating aspects of the
scenery being indicated by the speaker. In the
last canto of the Kum. (VIII.52), Siva, eager to
perform his rites to the twilight, consoles Par-
vati who has become angry at the prospect of
being ignored. Explaining why the dusk demands
his worship, the god speaks of the twilight's "form"
(tanu) after which he immediately inserts the
vocative "sutanu" (oh, slender formed woman).
The suggestion is clearly that the two "forms"
share like qualities. Consequently, Siva's wor-
ship of the twilight is hardly a full turn away
from his wife. Rather it can be interpreted as an
indirect worship of her or her qualities. In short,
Parvati needn't be upset.
In another verse of the same canto (VIII. 45)
Siva addresses Parvati as "kufilakesi" (oh you
with curls) immediately after introducing the
word "kotayah," the edges of clouds which he has
just pointed out in a description of the clouds'
splendid hues at twilight. Again the alliteration
suggests a similarity between the clouds' beauty
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and the lovely locks of Parvati. Siva, as many a
clever man in Sanskrit poetry, has devised a way
of praising that which is not his beloved without
being accused of divided loyalties.
Elsewhere (SRK. 506) the maid asks the young
woman: "Oh doe-eyed girl [mrgdksi] the path [mdr-
gam] of what lucky man do you honor with your
glances . . ." Not only is a tie established between
the young woman's eyes and the path that she
watches-her eyes have become truly fixated-
but one can almost see the margam reflected in
the fawn eyes of this mrgdksi.
In Raghu. XIII. 57 Sita is addressed by Rama
as "anavadhydngi" (oh lady of faultless limbs)
as he points out the "Garigd" in all the river's
splendor. (The river is also "iva bhasmangaraga
tanur isvarasya.") In Kum. VIII. 68 Siva directs
Parvati's eyes to the crest of wishing trees (kal-
pavrksasikharesu) adorned by the pearl-rays of the
moon. Here Siva's bride is addressed as "avikalpa-
sundari" (oh you of unimaginable beauty). Not
only is there a suggested transfer of beauty from
the well-pictured tree to the woman Parvati,
but we can speak of a subtle "suggestion through
dissimilarity" (vyatirekhadhvani) in that Parvati's
loveliness is "avikalpa" (unimaginable) while the
poor wishing tree is of the genus "kalpa," a word
which by contrast suggests an "imaginable" or
lesser beauty.
Vocatives may alliterate with imperatives that
are directed towards the person addressed. "Ta-
rarigaya drso 'igane" (Oh woman, send forth your
glances in waves) in SRK. 518 suggests that the
woman is able to project such coquettish glances
since her designation is of a like sound pattern.
As when an aspect of the scenery alliterates with
a word for woman in the vocative case,
creating a
bond between that woman and the
charming
landscape, alliteration, etc., may serve to associate
an addressed woman with a verbal notion that
exists outside of herself. Consider Raghu. XIII.
47: "Oh woman with rounded limbs (bandhura-
gdtri), [the Citrakiuta mountain] binds (badhndti)
[my eye]." Is it not she that binds this man's
eye? Kum. IV. 11 alliterates the vocative, the
verbal infinitive associated with the addressed
person, and the object of that infinitive. Suggest-
ed is that Rati's beloved (priya =
Kama) alone
can ensure that the young lasses
(priyds) arrive
(prdpayitum) safely at their lovers' dwellings.
"Tanvaingi tarahgitdsi" (Oh lady, you are
shaken . ..) of SRK. 413 exemplifies a vocative
alliterating with a past passive participle. In the
 LANGER: Suggestive Uses of Alliteration 443

same vein, adjectives frequently alliterate with women's physical appearance in Sanskrit poetry,
the words for women, regardless of their case it is little wonder that poets frequently combine
endings. Such alliteration clearly emphasizes words for women which will alliterate with other
that the qualities represented by these predicates words (and usually there is again a wide choice)
truly belong to or are inseparable from the women denoting parts of the female body. In every case
they describe. Kdntds are frequently klantd the similarity of sound encourages the reader to
(weary) from lovemaking; bdlds are often abald associate the entire woman with her hips, breasts,
(weak) and pramadds often madd (intoxicated) and so forth. The word "stana" (breast) is often
with love, etc. Figura etymologica comprise a used in connection with "tanvi" or "tanvangi"
large percentage of this group. Sometimes words (slender woman). Words ending in visarga (which
sharing sounds create inventive alliterative pat- becomes "s" before "t") often precede the words
terns. When in SRK. 832 we read, "nirastabhiyo "tanvi" and "tanvangi," creating the effect of
'bhisdrikds" (the women setting out to meet their "... s-tanv. .." "Arga" (limb) frequently com-
lovers [proceed] without fear) we are struck by the bines with "tanvarigi," "sarangdksi" (fawn-eyed)
fact that there is almost a complete reversal of and other words sounding similar. The streak of
letters from "irastabhiy" to "abhisdri." hair above the navel (romavali) of a beautiful
Words for women alliterating with adverbs woman (rdmi) is a word play encountered in SRK.
may invite suggestive overtones. Consider grnigd- 338. In Kum. VII 64 the women (ndryo) seeing Siva,
rasataka 4: drink him up with their eyes (nayanaih). They
kvacit subhrfibhaigaih kvacid api ca lajjaparigataih have become all eyes, as it were.24 SRK 416
kvacid bhititrastaih kvacid api ca lilavilasitaih/ contains the phrase tanvangydh (katham api)
kumarinam etair vadanasubhagairnetravalitaih sphu- nitambasthalam" (of the slender woman ... the
rallilabj anam prakaraparikirna iva diSah// region of hips). We may note an interesting verbal
icon in the reversal of two pairs of consonants
The semantic value of the four kvacids merely from "tanvargydh" to "nitambasthalam," i.e.,
tell us that the women's "prolific" glances are t, n; v, n: n, t; m, b. (Of course, Sanskritists
seen everywhere differently. That lovely women permit the alliterative interchange between the
lie behind every one of these glances strewn in nasals "n" and "m" and the letters "v" and "b.")
some (kvacit) direction is perhaps reinforced by Does not this symmetry of letters suggest a sym-
the alliterating "k" letters and the "v" and "u" metry of bodily form? Consider SRK. 399 which
(semivowel to its corresponding vowel) of the four is more explicitly suggesting such a shift from
kvacits and the word kumdrinim. My proposal is stylistic to semantic symmetry. In this verse we
admittedly questionable. I leave it to the reader's read "kucadvandve kurarigidrsah" (the pair of
discretion whether or not to accept this interpreta- breasts of the deer-eyed woman). Examples of
tion and consequently this entire category. words qualifying important features of women
Unfortunately I have found no examples of words alliterating with the word for woman are Sri-
for women creating obvious bonds with adverbs garasataka 25 which speaks of the "... m ad-
through alliteration. This category must remain in haramadhu vadhundm ..." (nectar of lips of the
question. women) and SRK. 356 which portrays the "pan-
Amaru. 3 reads "the face of the young woman dutarau tarunydh (very pale [breasts] of the young
[tanvyd] . . . may that [face] protect you [tat tvdm woman).
pdtu]. Although tattvdm (written together in We have already spoken of verbs alliterating
devandgari) is properly a combination of "tat" with women addressed in the vocative. Let us
(that) and "tvdm" (you), no reader of Sanskrit
could fail to see the total effect of this coalescence 24 tain ekadrsyam nayanaih pibantyo
ndryo na jagmur
in its resemblance to "tattvam" (truth). Whereas visaydntarini
we may not have the liberty to read "may the tathd hi gesendriyavrttir dsdm sarvdtmand caksur iva
face of the young woman... protect the truth," pravistd
we cannot prevent ourselves from associating- Cf. Raghu. VII. 12. which differs only in the beginning:
consciously or subliminally-this woman with the td rdghavam drstibhir dpibantyo .... While this verse
"truth." seems to undermine the "meaningful" alliteration of
In the light of the large number of Sanskrit Kum VII. 64, we cannot be certain that Kalidasa did not
designations for woman and the importance of consider the latter version more successful.

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444 Journal of the American Oriental Society 98.4 (1978)
now turn to a few noteworthy examples of words
for women not in the vocative case, sharing sounds
with verbs that in some way are to be associated
with these women. In SRK. 469 the beloved
(priyd), resisting her newly acquired husband's
advances, reaches (yait) a greater charm. In
adolescence the figure of the slender girl (tanvyi)
grows (tanute) beautiful (SRK. 352). The way-
farer of SRK. 780 questions how the long days
of separation pass (yanti) for his frail darling
(priydydh).25 In Bhartrhari's verse 66 of the
Srrigrasataka a traveller, having become in-
different towards his wife, rationalizes, "what's
the use of journeying home if my beloved no longer
lives or merely breathes [prdniti priyatama]?"
Another traveller laments, "when will I see [drak-
sydmi] the loosened robe of my fawn-eyed love
[mrgadrsa]?" (SRK. 758). Elsewhere (SRK. 425)
it is said that the full moon steals away (harati)
the splendor of the fawn-eyed maid (harinak-
syah). The sprouts placed on the ears of women
(dayitd) are excitants (madayita) to the lovers of
Raghu. IX. 31. Of course sprouts alone could
never excite men's desires. The word play sug-
gests that the dayitd (granted, with sprouts on
their ears) have become the madayita of men.
The harmonious situation of a good woman giving
birth to a son at the auspicious time is left doubt-
less by the alliteration in Raghu. X. 66: prasati
samaye sati." An angry woman (manini) earns the
first syllable of her name when she cries to her
lover "ma ma munca" (no, no, let me go) in Amaru.
36. SRK. 521 exemplifies a comparable type of
". . . the falling
suggestion. of every glance
the fair-browed lass [subhruvo] trips me up [vib-
hramanti]." The alliteration suggests that the
brows themselves play a large role in this decep-
tion. The reader should note that the consonants
of "subhruvo" also "trip up" when they reach
"vibhramanti" (bh, r, v, to v, bh, r).
Alliteration and similar sabddlamkdras are
employed quite effectively in metaphors and
similes to bind the upamdna with the upameya.
This is measureless ambrosia
this the river [sindhu] of bliss;
25 Cf. Raghu. IX. 7 in which the word priyatamd
alliterates with and puns on yatamdna. For word plays
involving priyd and a form of the verb ya, see SRK. 780,
469, 806; Rtusamnhdra 2.19; Meghadaita 22; and Srngd-
radataka 66, 95.
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this is sweet as honey [madhumadharam]
this truly strikes the heart [antardhunoti]:
when with a household of young wives (vadhandm)
... a man may spend his days in dalliance.26SRK.566
Here three of the four comparisons, like the upa-
meya, "vadhanam" contain the cluster "dhu"
preceded or followed by a nasal. Rtusamhara III.
28 invokes the autumn, resplendent (kantih) like a
lover (kamini). Indumati is "uttama-saukumaryd
kumudvati" (the most tender woman, like night
lilies) in Raghu. VI. 36. In one of Bhartrhari's
less flattering moments (Srngdragataka 41) the
poet likens a woman (striyam) to an unclean
leather bag (pratyaksaducibhastrik&m).
Finally we should note the bond created between
couples, often separated, by the frequent use of
alliterating words for "man" and "woman."
The most common of such pairs are: pati/patni;
kami/kamini; vara/vadhul; and nara/nari. Serving
the same end would be the pairs: pramada/pra-
vasin (Rtu. II. 12); katara/kanta (Amaru. 8);
jayd/jano (Meghadufta 8); and, with a proper name,
rama/Rama (Raghu. XII. 23).
In conclusion, alliteration and related tech-
niques are indeed employed in Sanskrit court
poetry not only as word plays that charm the ear
but as devices that reinforce or suggest a semantic
bond between the words involved in alliteration
and similar Sabdilamkdras. Of the Sanskrit
words for women that I have found to alliterate
with this intention, the majority were involved in
some connection (explicit or implicit) with 1)
other nouns, 2) an aspect of the beautiful scenery
from
[in this category the words for women were usual-
ly in the vocative casel, 3) adjectives describing
these women, 4) adjectives qualifying one of their
physical attributes, 5) the major terms of meta-
phors and similes to which these women are
compared, and 6) words for men who usually
enjoy a love relationship-and are often separat-
ed from-these women. Although we cannot say
whether or not certain of the many epithets
women were
(usually vocatives) designating
formulated for the purpose of having a larger
access to alliterating vocabulary, the examples
cited illustrate that a poet's choice of one word
for woman over another was not infrequently
determined by his desire to create such a "mean-
ingful" alliteration.
26 Ingalls, An Anthology, p. 202.
 LANGER: Suggestive Uses of Alliteration 445

In the study that I have made of words for
women in Sanskrit poetry, 343, or 31 %, of 1091
instances are involved in an alliterative type of
sound cluster. Of these 146 or 42 % (13 % of all
words examined) contain sound similarities that
translate into a semantic message or suggestion.
Granted, the use of such techniques was never
standardized nor even acknowledged by Sanskrit
poets or critics (had this technique been in-
corporated into the alamkarasastras my figures
would be much higher I); nevertheless, "meaning-
ful" alliterative and similar techniques are indeed
an important aspect of kdvya to which readers of
Sanskrit poetry should be alerted, lest we over-
look or minimize the significance of this under-
stated and often elusive stylistic device.

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