Lotus or Like a Lotus
In a Padya class, 18 students compare two versions of a couplet about a girl's face. Version A: बालायाः वदनं कमलम् इव भाति, चक्षुषी नीलोत्पले इव। Version B: बालायाः वदनं कमलम्, चक्षुषी नीलोत्पले। The teacher asks which version contains उपमा and which contains रूपक, and whether Version B is more poetic because it removes इव. One student says Version B must be रूपक because the face is called a lotus outright. Another says it is only a compressed उपमा and that the examiner will accept either label. A third student points out that in Version A the comparison is explicit but the words कमल and नीलोत्पल are still metaphors. The class has five minutes and a question that asks अलंकारं निर्दिश्य कारणं लिखत - name the figure and give the reason.
1. Name the figure in each version and give the textual marker that decides it. Explain why both are the same because a lotus is involved is not a sufficient answer.
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Version A is उपमा: the face is said to be like a lotus and the eyes like blue lotuses. The marker is इव, which keeps the two entities distinct while asserting similarity. Version B is रूपक: इव is removed and the face is directly called a lotus, so the subject and the object of comparison are identified. The statement that both are the same because a lotus appears in each ignores the relational word. In A, the lotus is a standard of comparison; in B, it is superimposed on the face. That is the reason to give in a name-the-figure-and-give-the-reason answer.
2. The student says the examiner will accept either label for Version B. How would you decide what to write in a two-mark answer, and what reasoning would you show?
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For a two-mark answer, do not write either is accepted without a reason. Choose रूपक for Version B and show the marker: absence of इव and direct identification of वदन with कमल. If the examiner's key prefers उपमा, the reason comparison would be too thin; the candidate should at least mention that the comparison is implicit. In an exam, the safest answer is the one whose reason matches the visible text. A label without a textual reason earns little, because the question asks for both name and cause.
3. Rewrite Version A as a clear rupaka without using इव, and explain what is lost and gained.
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A clear rupaka version is: बालायाः वदनं कमलम्, चक्षुषी नीलोत्पले. What is gained is force and economy: the face is not merely like a lotus but is presented as one. What is lost is the explicit distance between the girl and the flower; the statement becomes more assertive and, if read literally, less plausible. The poet accepts that risk for intensity. In a classroom answer, note that the figure depends on intention and context, not on the mere presence of the words कमल or नीलोत्पल.