In Hinduism

Kavyashastra (science of poetry)

Source: Shodhganga: The Kavyavilasa of Ciranjiva Bhattacarya (kavyashastra)

Lalitopamā (ललितोपमा) refers to one of the 93 alaṃkāras (“figures of speech”) mentioned by Cirañjīva Bhaṭṭācārya (fl. 17th century) in his Kāvyavilāsa and is listed as one of the 89 arthālaṃkāras (figure of speech determined by the sense, as opposed to sound).

When the upamāna is associated with the words like lilā, spardhā, vilāsa etc. it is called lalitopamā.

Example of the lalitopamā-alaṃkāra:—

ālīnāṃ purataḥ kutūhalavaśāt karṇāntakaṇḍūmiṣā daṅgulyā daracālitasya sahasā celāñcalasyāntare |
etasyāḥ kṣaṇamikṣaṇadvayamidaṃ tvāṃ vīkṣituṃ sarvataḥ |
khelanmañjulakhañjarīṭayugalaspardhi sphuṭaṃ lakṣyate ||

“In front of female friends, on account of the desire for scratching the end of ear by fingers, her pair of eyes within the veil which is caused to move suddenly with fear out of curiosity to see you everywhere, are observed as rivals of the couple of sporting and beautiful khañjarīṭa birds for that moment”.

Notes: In this illustration her pair of eyes are upameya and the couple of khañjarīṭa bird is upamāna. The word spardhi is associated with the word khañjarīṭayugala expressive of upamāna. So the connection of the word spardhi with khañjarīṭayugala makes it an illustration of lalitopamā.

context information

Kavyashastra (काव्यशास्त्र, kāvyaśāstra) refers to the ancient Indian tradition of poetry (kavya). Canonical literature (shastra) of the includes encyclopedic manuals dealing with prosody, rhetoric and various other guidelines serving to teach the poet how to compose literature.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Lalita, Upama.

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