Upamā or Rūpaka? Moderating an Appreciation Answer
After teaching a prescribed anthology verse in which the beloved's face is compared to a lotus with the word 'iva' explicitly present, the teacher sets a 12-mark appreciation question: identify the alaṃkāra, explain the comparison, and comment on the emotional effect. Of 41 students, 17 write 'upamā', 9 write 'rūpaka', 6 write 'utprekṣā', and 9 give no figure at all. Script D writes: 'It is rūpaka because the poet says the face is a lotus; the word iva only makes it softer.' Script E writes: 'upamā, because face is upameya, lotus is upamāna, and iva is the vācaka.' The mark scheme allots 4 for the correct figure, 4 for identifying the components, and 4 for emotional effect. The teacher must decide whether Script D earns partial credit, how to handle the six utprekṣā answers, and how to reteach without simply asserting a label.
1. Mark Script D and Script E. Explain how the presence of 'iva' and the substitution test should guide the decision.
Read the worked answer
Award 4/4 for figure, 4/4 for components (upameya = face, upamāna = lotus, vācaka = iva, and the sāmānya or point of similarity must be stated for full component marks), and whatever the effect answer earns out of 4. If E names the shared quality, E can reach 12/12. The reasoning is grammatical and replicable.
Script DAward 0/4 for the figure: 'iva' is an explicit upamā-vācaka, and the sentence does not identify face and lotus. Give 1/4 for components because D recognises that a comparison exists and names the two terms, but not the sāmānya or the marker. Give 1-2/4 for effect if the comment about softness is tied to words in the verse. Total about 2-3/12.
Substitution testAsk: can the sentence be rewritten as 'the face is a lotus' without 'iva' and without a verb of imagining? If yes, rūpaka becomes possible. If the text keeps 'iva' and presents similarity, upamā is the operative figure. If the text says 'I imagine this lotus is the face' or uses 'manye' with identification, utprekṣā becomes possible. The test must be applied to the actual wording, not to a paraphrase.
2. Six students wrote 'utprekṣā'. How would you use their answers in a 15-minute clinic rather than simply correcting them?
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- Sort the six answers into two piles: those that mention 'iva' only, and those that mention imagination, doubt or 'manye'. This makes the students' own reasoning the material.
- Contrast three board sentences: 'mukhaṃ kamalam iva' (similarity), 'mukham eva kamalam' (identification), and 'mukhaṃ kamalam iva manye' (imaginative supposition). Ask what each sentence does, not what label it deserves.
- Name the test: upamā asserts similarity; rūpaka asserts identity; utprekṣā presents an imagined identification, often with a marker of supposition. 'Iva' alone does not decide between upamā and utprekṣā; the verb of imagining or the framing does.
- Return to the prescribed verse: students underline the marker and the main verb, then write one sentence explaining why the operative figure is upamā and why utprekṣā is not supported by this wording.
Do not award full figure marks for utprekṣā here, but do award component credit where the student correctly identifies face and lotus. The clinic turns a wrong label into a discrimination exercise.
3. A student appeals: 'My Telugu commentary says it is rūpaka.' How do you handle the appeal without undermining the mark scheme?
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- Ask the student to show the exact Sanskrit words on which the commentary relies. Commentaries often paraphrase or use a different verse; a label attached to a paraphrase is not evidence for this text.
- Put the printed line on the board and apply the substitution test publicly. If 'iva' is present and no identification is asserted, the mark scheme is correct.
- Distinguish levels: a commentary may call the whole description 'rūpaka-like' in a loose literary sense, but the examination asks for the figure in this verse. Loose praise is not the same as technical analysis.
- Record the appeal and the evidence in the moderation file. If the key is genuinely ambiguous, revise the key for all scripts, not only for the appellant.
Do not say the commentary is worthless. Say that the exam rewards the analysis of the printed wording, and show the student how to use the commentary as a second opinion rather than as a substitute for reading.