Agni Purana — Sahitya-shastra, Shloka 25
Arthālaṅkāras (Ornaments of Meaning): Definitions, Taxonomy, and the Centrality of Upamā
अन्यथा मन्यते यत्र तामुत्प्रेक्षां प्रचक्षते लोकसीमान्वृत्तस्य वस्तुधर्मस्य कीर्तनम्
anyathā manyate yatra tāmutprekṣāṃ pracakṣate lokasīmānvṛttasya vastudharmasya kīrtanam
Onde algo é concebido como «de outro modo» (diverso do que realmente é), isso se chama utprekṣā (suposição poética); é a expressão de uma propriedade da coisa que, ainda assim, permanece dentro dos limites da experiência comum.
Lord Agni
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: śānta
Sandhi Resolution Notes: तामुत्प्रेक्षां = ताम् + उत्प्रेक्षाम्; लोकसीमान्वृत्तस्य = लोकसीमा + अन्वृत्तस्य.
FAQs
It imparts Sahitya-shastra knowledge by defining the alankara called utpreksha—an imaginative attribution where a thing is conceived “otherwise,” yet kept within plausible worldly limits.
By codifying a technical definition from classical Sanskrit poetics (alankara theory), the Agni Purana demonstrates that it preserves not only religious and ritual material but also systematic literary science.
Indirectly, it refines sacred and ethical communication: disciplined poetic expression (within truth-like plausibility) supports clearer teaching of dharma and more effective transmission of scriptural meaning.