Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation

List of Abbreviations

# na antalikkhe na samuddamajjhe na pabbatanaj vivaraj pavissa

# na vijjati so jagatippadeso yatthatthitaj nappasaheyya maccu

# (DhP 128)

Sentence Translation:

Not in the air, not in the middle of the ocean, not entering the hole in the mountains.
There is no place in the world, where being, one would not be overcome by death.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na antalikkhe na samudda+majjhe na pabbatanaj vivaraj pavissa
| | | | | | | | |
neg. N.n. neg. N.m. Adj.m. neg. N.m. N.n. V.ger.
| Loc.Sg. | | Loc.Sg. | Gen.Pl. Acc.Sg. |
|______| | |_______| | |_________| |
|_________| |__________|___________|
|_____|

List of Abbreviations

na vijjati so jagati+ppadeso yattha+tthitaj na ppasaheyya maccu
| | | | | | | | | |
neg. V.act.in. Pron.m. N.n. N.m. Rel.Adv. Adj.m. neg. V.act. N.m.
| 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg.
|______| | |______| |_______| | | |
| |__________| | |______| |
| | | |__________|
| | |_________________|
| |___________________________|
|_____________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

antalikkhe: antalikkha-, N.n.: sky, atmosphere. Loc.Sg. = antalikkhe.

na, neg.: not.

samuddamajjhe: samuddamajjha-, Adj.: middle of the ocean. It is a compound of:
samudda-, N.m.: sea, ocean.
majjha-, Adj.: middle.
Loc.Sg.m. = samuddamajjhe.

na, neg.: not.

pabbatanaj: pabbata-, N.m.: mountain. Gen.Pl. = pabbatanaj.

List of Abbreviations

vivaraj: vivara-, N.n.: opening, hole. Acc.Sg. = vivaraj.

pavissa, V.ger.: having entered. The verb root is vis- (to enter) with the strengthening prefix pa-.

na, neg.: not.

vijjati, V.: exists, is found. The verb root is vid- (to find). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vijjati. The form vijjati is sometimes used in poetry.

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

jagatippadeso: jagatippadesa-, N.m.: a place in the world. It is a compound of:
jagat-, N.n.: world. Compound form = jagati-.
padesa-, N.m.: place, spot, location, district.
Euphonic combination: jagati- + padesa- = jagatippadesa-.
Nom.Sg. = jagatippadeso.

List of Abbreviations

yatthatthitaj: yatthatthita-, Adj.: where being. It is a compound of:
yattha, Rel.Adv.: where.
t hita-, Adj.: being, lit. standing. It is a p.p. of the verb root tha- (to stand).
Euphonic combination: yattha + thita- = yatthatthita-.
Acc.Sg.m. = yatthatthitaj.

na, neg.: not.

pasaheyya, V.: would use force, would subdue, would overcome. The verb root is sah- (to conquer) with the emphasizing prefix pa-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = pasaheyya.
Euphonic combination na + pasaheyya = nappasaheyya.

maccu: maccu-, N.m.: death. Nom.Sg. = maccu.

List of Abbreviations

In the first line of this verse, there are three syntactically isolated incomplete sentences. They are:
1) na antalikkhe (not in the air). The subject and verb are omitted. The verb "to be" is implied and it is negated by the negative particle na (not). It has an attribute, the noun antalikkhe (in the air, locative singular).
2) na samuddamajjhe (not in the middle of the ocean). The subject and verb are omitted. The verb "to be" is implied and it is negated by the negative particle na (not). It has an attribute, the compound samuddamajjhe (in the middle of the ocean, locative singular).
3) na pabbatanaj vivaraj pavissa (not entering the hole in the mountains). The subject is omitted. The verb is pavissa (having entered, gerundive). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the noun vivaraj (the hole, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun pabbatanaj (of mountains, genitive plural).
The second line forms the main sentence. It can be further subdivided into two segments:
1) na vijjati so jagatippadeso (there is no place in the world). The subject is the compound jagatippadeso (a place in the world, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the personal pronoun so (that, nominative singular). The verb is vijjati (exists, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).
2) yatthatthitaj nappasaheyya maccu (where being one would not be overcome by death). The subject is the noun maccu (death, nominative singular). The object is the compound yatthatthitaj (standing where, accusative singular). The verb is pasaheyya (would be overcome, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).

Commentary:

Buddha had also some enemies. One of them was his own cousin Devadatta who wanted to take the Buddha's place in the Community. Devadatta's father was king Suppabuddha. He was also an enemy of the Buddha, because the Buddha married Suppabuddha's daughter, Yasodhara, and later left her and became a monk.
When the Buddha came for almsfood to his place, the king got drunk and blocked the way. He refused to make way for the Buddha. The Buddha turned around and went back, saying to the monks that the king make a bad karma by refusing to make way for a Buddha and would have to face the consequences very soon.
Suppabuddha wanted to prove the Buddha wrong, so he paid special attention to his deeds and also instructed his servants to protect him very carefully. But on the seventh day he heard his horse neighing loudly and kicking about. He wanted to handle the horse and went down to the stable. He fell down the stairs and died immediately.
The Buddha remarked that one can not escape death no matter how one tries, no matter where on hides.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
antalikkhe
samuddamajjhe
samudda
majjhe
pabbatanaj
vivaraj
pavissa
vijjati
so
jagatippadeso
jagati
padeso
yatthatthitaj
yattha
thitaj
pasaheyya
maccu