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

List of Abbreviations

# yo appadutthassa narassa dussati saddhassa posassa anavganassa

# tam eva balaj pacceti papaj sukhumo rajo pativataj va khitto

# (DhP 125)

Sentence Translation:

Who offends against an uncorrupted man, against a trusting and pure person,
the evil will fall back upon such a fool, like minute dust thrown against the wind.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo appadutthassa narassa dussati saddhassa posassa anavganassa
| | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. Adj.m. N.m. V.act.in. Adj.m. N.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Gen.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Gen.Sg. Gen.Sg. Gen.Sg.
| |________| | |________|________|
| |_____________|____________|
|_______________________|
|___________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

tam eva balaj pacceti papaj sukhumo rajo pativataj va khitto
| | | | | | | | | |
Pron.m. part. N.m. V.act.in. N.n. Adj.m. N.m. Adv. part. Adj.m.
Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | | Nom.Sg.
|________|_____| | | |_______| |_____|____|
|_________________| | |_____________| |
|________________| |________|
|_______________________________|
___________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

appadutthassa: apaduttha-, Adj.: uncorrupted, not spoilt. It is the word paduttha-, Adj. (a p.p. of the verb dus-, to become bad or damaged, preceded by the strengthening prefix pa-) with the negative prefix a-. Euphonic combination: a- + paduttha- = appaduttha-. Gen.Sg.m. = apadutthassa.

narassa: nara-, N.m.: man, person. Gen.Sg. = narassa.

dussati, V.: offends against, does wrong to. The verb root is dus- (to become bad or damaged). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = dussati.

saddhassa: saddha-, Adj.: trusting, having confidence. Gen.Sg.m. = saddhassa.

posassa: posa-, N.m.: person. It is a contraction of the word purisa-, N.m.: person. Gen.Sg. = posassa.

List of Abbreviations

anavganassa: anavgana-, Adj.: clear, without specks. It is the word avgana-, N.m.: speck, freckle, with the negative prefix an-. Gen.Sg.m. = anavganassa.

tam: tad-, Pron.: it. Masculine form so-, he. Acc.Sg. = tam (him).

eva, part.: just, only.

balaj: bala-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person. Acc.Sg. = balaj.

pacceti, V.: falls back upon comes back to, returns. The verb root is i- (to go) with the prefix pati- (against, back). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pacceti.

papaj: papa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Nom.Sg. = papaj.

List of Abbreviations

sukhumo: sukhuma-, Adj.: subtle, minute, fine. Nom.Sg.m. = sukhumo.

rajo: rajo-, N.m.: dust, dirt. Nom.Sg. = rajo.

pativataj, Adv.: against the wind. It is a compound of:
pati-, pref.ind.: against.
vata-, N.m.: wind.
As an Adv.: pativataj.

va, part.: as, like.

khitto: khitta-, Adj.: thrown, cast. It is a p.p. of the verb khip- (to throw, to cast). Nom.Sg.m. = khitto.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
1) yo appadutthassa narassa dussati saddhassa posassa anavganassa (who offends against an uncorrupted man, against a trusting and pure person). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is dussati (offends against, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). There are two objects, narassa (of a man, genitive singular) with its attribute appadutthassa (of uncorrupted, genitive singular) and posassa (of a person, genitive singular) with two attributes, saddhassa (of trusting, genitive singular) and anavganassa (of pure, genitive singular).
2) tam eva balaj pacceti papaj sukhumo rajo pativataj va khitto (the evil will fall back upon such a fool, like minute dust thrown against the wind). This can be further subdivided into the main sentence a) and the clause b):
a) tam eva balaj pacceti papaj (the evil will fall back upon such a fool). The subject is the noun papaj (evil, nominative singular). The verb is pacceti (falls back upon, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun balaj (fool, accusative singular) with its attribute, the pronoun tam (that, accusative singular). The object is stressed by the particle eva (just).
b) sukhumo rajo pativataj va khitto (like minute dust thrown against the wind). The subject is the noun rajo (dust, nominative singular), with its attribute, the adjective sukhumo (minute, nominative singular). The past participle khitto (thrown, nominative singular) serves as a verb in this clause. It has an attribute, the adverb pativataj (against the wind). The particle va (like, as) connects the clause to the main sentence.

Commentary:

A hunter named Koka was leaving the city to hunt with his dogs. He met a monk who was entering the city to obtain some almsfood. The hunter took this for a bad sign and thought that that day he wouldn’t catch any animal. And that also happened - he did not get anything. Angry he went back home. On entering the city he met the same monk who obtained his food and was returning to the monastery. The hunter became so angry that he sent his dogs to kill the monk. But he climbed a tree and the dogs were unable to reach him. The hunter took an arrow and pricked the monk's feet with it. The monk was in pain and his robe fell down.
It just happened that the hunter was standing directly bellow. The robe fell onto him. His dogs thought that the monk fell down and attacked him. The monk threw some branches down and only then the dogs realized that they attacked their own master and ran away. The monk climbed down and found out that the hunter was already dead.
When he returned to the monastery, he went to see the Buddha, because he felt responsible for the hunter's death. But the Buddha told him that he was not responsible at all. Only hunter himself and his foolish actions caused him the untimely death. The Buddha then added this verse, saying that whoever wants to harm an innocent, calls evil on himself. Just like trying to throw dust against the wind - it will just come back and fall upon the very person who threw it.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
appadutthassa
narassa
dussati
saddhassa
posassa
anavganassa
tam
eva
balaj
pacceti
papaj
sukhumo
rajo
pativataj
pati
vataj
va
khitto