काव्यप्रकाश (आचार्य मम्मट - सम्पूर्ण १० उल्लास सटीक)

CHAPTER X 435
प्रश्नादनन्तरं लोकातिक्रान्तगोचरतया यत् असंभाव्यरूपं
प्रतिवचनं स्यात् तत् अपरमुत्तरम् । अनयोश्च सकृदुपादाने न
चारुताप्रतीतिरित्‍यसकृदित्युक्तम् । उदाहरणम्—
का विसमा देव्वगई किं लब्भं जं जणो गुणग्गाही ।
किं सोक्खं सुकलत्तं किं दुक्खं जं खलो लोओ ॥५२९॥
प्रश्नपरिसंख्यायामन्यव्यपोह एव तात्पर्यम् । इह तु वाच्ये
एव विश्रान्तिरित्‍यनयोर्विवेकः ॥
This figure is not the same as ‘Poetical Reason’ ;
because the nature of the figure ‘Answer’ is not the same
as that of Poetical Reason, as the Answer here is not the
productive cause of the question (as it is in Poetical Reason).
Nor is it the same as ‘Inference’, as it does not involve
any mention of the Probans and Probandum as subsisting
in a single substratum (as it is in Inference).
For these reasons it is best to regard this Answer as
a distinct Figure of Speech.
(b) It is the second kind of Answer when, after the
statement of the question, there follows an answer which,
being beyond the reach of ordinary comprehension, is
‘inconceivable’.—As the single mention of such question
and answer would have no charm, it is added ‘this more
than once’.
Example—
‘What is perverse ? The ways of destiny.—What
is difficult to obtain ? Appreciative men.—What is
happiness ? A good wife.—What is unhappiness ?
The presence of wicked men’.
In the ‘Exclusion with question’, what is aimed at
is only the exclusion of other things while in the present
figure the import rests entirely in the expressed meaning
only ;—herein lies the difference between these two Figures.