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

List of Abbreviations

# yatha pi ruciraj pupphaj vannavantaj agandhakaj

# evaj subhasita vaca aphala hoti akubbato

# (DhP 51)

Sentence Translation:

Just like a beautiful flower, colorful but without smell,
is a well said speech of somebody, who does not act accordingly.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yatha pi ruciraj pupphaj vannavantaj a+gandhakaj
| | | | | | |
Rel.Adv. conj. Adj.n. N.n. N.n. neg. Adj.n.
|_________| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
| | | | |_______|
| |________|________|__________|
| |____|
|_________________|
|_____________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

evaj subhasita vaca a+phala hoti a+kubbato
| | | | | | | |
Adv. Adj.f. N.f. neg. Adj.f. V.act.in. neg. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. | Gen.Sg.
| |________| |_____| | |_____|
| | |___________| |
| |_________________|_______________|
| |_______|
|_________________________|
___________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yatha, Rel.Adv.: just as.

pi, conj.: also, too.

ruciraj: rucira-, Adj.: beautiful, pleasant. Nom.Sg.n. = ruciraj.

pupphaj: puppha-, N.n.: flower. Nom.Sg. = pupphaj.

List of Abbreviations

vannavantaj: vannavant-, Adj.: having color, colorful. It is the word vanna-, N.m.: color, with the possessive suffix -vant-. Nom.Sg.n. = vannavantaj (the more usual is vannavaj, but for the sake of the meter, this form was used here).

agandhakaj: agandhaka-, Adj.: not smelling. Negated (by the negative prefix a-) word gandhaka-, Adj.: smelling. This word is derived from the word gandha-, N.m.: smell by adding the adjective suffix -ka-.
Nom.Sg.n. = agandhakaj.

evaj, Adv.: thus, so.

List of Abbreviations

subhasita: subhasita-, Adj.: well said. It is the word bhasita (well said, the p.p. of the verb bhas-, to speak) with the prefix su- (good, well). Nom.Sg.f. = subhasita.

vaca: vaca-, N.f.: speech (derived from the verb root vac-, to speak). Nom.Sg. = vaca.

aphala: aphala-, Adj.: fruitless. It is the word phala-, N.n.: fruit, with the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.f. = aphala.

hoti, V. is. The verb root is bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bhavati or hoti.

akubbato: akubbant-, Adj.: not doing. It is the word kubbant-, Adj.: doing, which is an a.pr.p. of the verb root kar- (to do), negated by the negative prefix a-. Gen.Sg.m.= akubbato.

List of Abbreviations

The two lines of this verse form two sentences. In the first one, the subject is pupphaj (flower, nominative singular) with three attributes: 1) ruciraj (beautiful, nominative singular), 2) vannavantaj (colorful, nominative singular) and 3) agandhakaj (without smell, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be" (hoti from the second line). The relative adverb yatha (just as), which forms a quite common phrase yatha pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this sentence to the next one.
In the second sentence, the subject is the word vaca (speech, nominative singular), with two attributes, the adjective subhasita (well said, nominative singular) and the active present participle akubbato (of the not doing one, genitive singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective aphala (fruitless, nominative singular). The adverb evaj (thus, so) connects this sentence to the previous one.

Commentary:

A certain Buddha's disciple named Chattapani has attained the second stage of Awakenment. Once, while he was listening to the Buddha's discourse, the king Pasenadi came to the monastery. Chattapani did not get up, because by paying homage to the king he would disrespect the Buddha. The king was very unhappy about that, thinking that Chattapani offended him. But the Buddha explained to the king what Chattapani meant. The king was impressed and asked Chattapani to teach Dharma to his queens. But he refused, saying that monks should teach Dharma, not mere lay disciples.
The Buddha then assigned Ananda to teach them. After some time the Buddha asked, how much progress did the queens make. Ananda replied, that the queen Mallika was learning very quickly and seriously, the queen Vasabha Khattiya was not paying attention and therefore made no progress.
The Buddha replied by this verse, saying that only those, who learn diligently and then practice what they learned, can benefit from the Dharma.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yatha
pi
ruciraj
pupphaj
vannavantaj
agandhakaj
evaj
subhasita
vaca
aphala
hoti
akubbato