Chitra Kavitvani – amazing Sanskrit poetry from Rupa Goswami's  Stava-mala where he has composed verses of only two or even one consonant. They generate terrific images as can be viewed in this video.

I offer my humble obeisances unto my gurus.

May Sri Rupa, the mighty king of poets, who composes poetical verses that are extremely difficult to compose, grant me the wealth of intelligence (needed to understand them).

The word dushkara (difficult to compose) is a generic term used in the Agni-purana to describe the different varieties of chitra-kavya. Therefore, here the words dushkarni kavitvani are the same as chitra-kavitvani.

In this context, the word chitra means amazing or a picture. Chitra-kavitvani means poetical verses that cause astonishment like “Wow! How did he compose a verse using only two consonants?

(or)

How did he compose a verse using only one consonant?”

Alternatively, the chakra (wheel) formation and so on are called chitras and thus chitra-kavitvani could also mean poetical verses which have these formations. This is in accordance with Bharata Muni’s statement: “Chitra is that in which the syllables, being situated in a particular arrangement, reveal the forms of a sword, wheel and so on.”

Srila Rupa Gosvami, one of the six Gosvamis who were Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disciples, composed Stava-mala. Stava-mala means a garland of stavas. Stava is generally translated as a prayer. But it is different from stotra which is also a prayer.

The difference is that stotra is a prayer composed by previous acharyas and one recites it for the pleasure of the Lord, whereas the stava is one’s own personal outpouring of one’s heart for the Lord.  

Sri Rupa Goswami’s Stava-mala contains chitra-kavitvani, amazing or picture verses. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana, a great acharya and scholar in Gaudiya-Vaishnava-sampradaya, wrote a Sanskrit commentary on Stava-mala - Stava-mala-bhushana.

The content of this article is taken from a video presentation on Stava-mala by the students of ISKCON's Sanskrit School, Srimad-Bhagavata Vidyapitham, Vrindavan, based on Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana’s Sanskrit commentary.

Please click here for video presentation on Stava-mala

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Dvy-aksharani

Among these amazing verses, there are those with only two aksharas (consonants).

The following verse uses words which only have the consonants - r and s.

Verse 1

Here Rupa Gosvami desires to describe the particular topic which is the rasa-dance. As the word rasa has the consonants - r and s, so all the other words he is going to choose to describe the rasa dance also can have only the consonants r and s. This verse is a transcendental tongue-twister, difficult to pronounce fast! And of course it is very difficult to compose. We can see what a beautiful meaning Rupa Goswami has managed to bring out in such constricting rules of the poetic verse.

Someone may argue, “How does this verse have only two aksharas, since the visarga (h) and anusvara (m) are also present here?”

True. The answer is that this verse is considered to have only two aksharas because, in chitra-kavya (the genre of amazing poetry), two aksharas are used even when the visarga (h) and anusvara (m) are present.

An alternate explanation is that the visarga and anusvara can be counted either as vowels or as consonants, according to the need, since they are listed in between the vowels and consonants and can thus go either way. If they are counted as vowels here, they pose no threat to the verse’s status of having only two consonants.