प्रातःपङ्कजकुड्मलयद्युतिपदं तत्केशरोल्लासवान्
अर्थोऽभ्यन्तरसौरभप्रतिनिभं व्यङ्ग्यं चमत्कारि यत् ।
द्वित्रैर्यद्रसिकैश्चिरं सहृदयैर्भृङ्गैरिवास्वाद्यते
तत्काव्यं न पुनः प्रमत्तकुकवेर्यत्किञ्चिदुज्जल्पितम् ॥
prātaḥ-paṅkaja-kuḍmalaya-dyuti-padaṁ tat-keśarollāsavān
artho’bhyantara-saurabha-pratinibhaṁ vyaṅgyaṁ camatkāri yat |
dvi-trair yad rasikaiś ciraṁ sahṛdayair bhṛṅgair ivāsvādyate
tat kāvyaṁ na punaḥ pramatta-kukaver yat kiñcid ujjalpitam ||
(An ancient; cited in the Adbhuta-ṭīkā on Prema-pattana: 12)
“That which is like an object possessed of the beauty of a morning lotus bud, the meaning of which is like a bearer of the splendor of that’s [i.e., a lotus bud’s] whorl, the wondrous suggested sense of which is like the inner fragrance [of that lotus bud], and which is long relished [only] by two or three [rare] bee-like cordial relishers of rasa (sahṛdaya rasikas) is [worthy of being called] poetry (kāvya), and not, rather, any sort of utterance of a blundering pseudo-poet.”
Commentary
Śrī Ananta Dāsa Bābājī cites this verse in his book Rasa-darśana and elaborates the metaphor used in the verse as follows: a poem’s lines are comparable to the petals of a lotus, a poem’s meaning to a lotus’s whorl, a poem’s suggested sense or “resonance” (dhvani) to a lotus’s fragrance, and a poem’s rasa to a lotus’s nectar.