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

List of Abbreviations

# pupphani h'eva pacinantaj byasattamanasaj naraj

# suttaj gamaj mah'ogho va maccu adaya gacchati

# (DhP 47)

Sentence Translation:

The man who is only gathering flowers, with an attached mind,
the death will carry away, like a great flood the sleeping village.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

pupphani hi eva pacinantaj byasatta+manasaj naraj
| | | | | | |
N.n. part. part. Adj.m. Adj. N.m. N.m.
Acc.Pl. |____| Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
|___________|_______| |________| |
|________________________| |
|________________________|
|__________________________________

List of Abbreviations

suttaj gamaj maha+ogho va maccu adaya gacchati
| | | | | | | |
Adj.m. N.m. Adj. N.m. part. N.m. V.ger. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|__________| |_____| | | |________|
|_____________| | |__________|
|________________| |
____________________|___________________|
|_________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

pupphani: puppha-, N.n.: flower. By "flowers" are here meant pleasures of the senses. Nom.Pl. = pupphani.

hi, part.: indeed.

eva, part.: just, only.

pacinantaj: pacinant-, Adj.: collecting, gathering. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb pacinati (to gather, to collect), which has the verb root ci- (to heap, to collect) with the strengthening prefix pa-. Acc.Sg.m. = pacinantaj.

List of Abbreviations

byasattamanasaj: byasattamanasa-, Adj.: with attached mind. A compound of:
byasatta-, Adj.: attached, clinging. It is a p.p. of the verb root sajj- (to be attached)
with the prefixes vi- (intensifying) and a- (towards).
Euphonic combination: vi- + a- = vya-. The change from v- to b- is common in Pali.
manas-, N.m.: mind.
Acc.Sg.m. = byasattamanasaj.

naraj: nara-, N.m.: man. Acc.Sg. = naraj.

suttaj: sutta-, Adj.: sleeping. It is a p.p. of the verb root sup- (to sleep).
Acc.Sg.m. = suttaj.

gamaj: gama-, N.m.: village. Acc.Sg. = gamaj.

List of Abbreviations

mah'ogho: mah'ogha-, N.m.: great flood. A compound of:
mahant-, Adj.: big, great. The compound form: maha-.
ogha-, N.m.: flood.
Euphonic combination: maha- + ogha- = mah'ogha-.
Nom.Sg. = mah'ogho.

va, part.: as, like.

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

adaya, V.ger.: having taken. The verb root is da- (to give), with the prefix a- (from).
Thus a- + da- (to take).

gacchati, V.: goes. The verb root is gam- (to go). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = gacchati.

List of Abbreviations

The phrase adaya gacchati can be literally translated as "goes, having taken", but rather has the meaning of "carries away".
The subject of this verse is the noun maccu (death, nominative singular). The verbal phrase adaya gacchati (having taken, goes) serves as the verb in this sentence. The object is the noun naraj (man, accusative singular). The object has two attributes, byasattamanasaj (with an attached mind, accusative singular) and pacinantaj (gathering, accusative singular). This last word has its own attribute, the noun pupphani (flowers, accusative plural). The two particles, hi (indeed) and eva (just, only) are here mainly for metrical purposes.
There is a subordinate clause in this sentence, suttaj gamaj mah'ogho va (like a great flood the sleeping village). The subject here is the compound mah'ogho (great flood, nominative singular) and the object the noun gamaj (village, accusative singular) with its attribute, the past participle suttaj (sleeping, accusative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verbal phrase adaya gacchati from the main sentence. The particle va (as, like) connects the clause to the main sentence.

Commentary:

By "flowers" are meant the pleasures of the senses here. One, who only keeps "gathering flowers", or in other words chase after the sense-pleasures, will be carried away by death, as the army of the king of Kosala in this story.
King Pasenadi of Kosala asked the clan of the Sakyans (Buddha's own relatives) to give him one of their daughters as a wife. But they sent him a daughter of a slave woman by king Mahanama. Pasenadi did not know that and married her. She gave birth to a son, who was named Vidudabha.
Later Vidudabha found out, that his mother was a daughter of a slave and became very angry with the Sakyans. When he became the king, he declared war on them and killed almost all of the Sakyan clan. On the way back, he and his army encamped on the bank of a river. That night, heavy rain fell; the river swelled and carried Vidudabha and his army to the ocean.
When Buddha heard what happened, he uttered this verse.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

pupphani
hi
eva
pacinantaj
byasattamanasaj
byasatta
manasaj
naraj
suttaj
gamaj
mah'ogho
maha
ogho
va
maccu
adaya
gacchati