Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# pupphani h'eva pacinantaj byasattamanasaj naraj

# atittab eva kamesu antako kurute vasaj

# (DhP 48)

Sentence Translation:

The man who is only gathering flowers, with an attached mind,
unsatisfied in sense pleasures, Death gets under control.

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.
|___________|________| |_________| |
| | |_____________________II.
|_____________________|________________________________I.

List of Abbreviations

atittab eva kamesu antako kurute vasaj
| | | | | |
Adj.m. part. N.m. N.m. V.med.in. N.m.
Acc.Sg. | Loc.Pl. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
|________|_____| | |_______|
I.__________| |_____________|
II.____| |
|_______________________|

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.

atittab: atitta-, Adj.: unsatisfied. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word titta-, Adj.: satisfied, contented. This is a p.p. of the verb root tapp- (to be satisfied). Acc.Sg. = atittaj. Euphonic combination: atittaj + eva = atittab eva.

List of Abbreviations

eva: see above.

kamesu: kama-, N.m.: sense-pleasure, sense desire. Loc.Pl. = kamesu.

antako: antaka-, N.m.: 'the ender', end maker, death. Derived from the word anta-, N.n.: end. Nom.Sg. = antako.

kurute, V.: does. The verb root is kar- (to do). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = kurute.

vasaj: vasa-, N.m.: power, authority, control. Acc.Sg. = vasaj.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the noun antako (Death, nominative singular). The verbal phrase kurute vasaj (makes control; 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative present tense; and accusative singular) fulfills the role of a verb in this sentence. The object is the noun naraj (man, accusative singular). It has three attributes:
1) pupphani h'eva pacinantaj (only gathering flowers). The main object is the active present participle pacinantaj (gathering, accusative singular) and the noun pupphani (flowers, accusative plural) is its attribute. Two particles, hi (indeed) and eva (just, only) are here mainly for metrical purposes.
2) byasattamanasaj (having attached mind, accusative singular).
3) atittab eva kamesu (unsatisifed in sense pleasures). The main object is the past participle atittab (unsatisfied, accusative singular) and the noun kamesu (in sense pleasures, locative plural) is its attribute. The particle eva (just, only) serves only metrical purposes.

Commentary:

In the city of Savatthi there lived a woman named Pati Pujika Kumari. She was very generous and virtuous. She gave alms to everyone in need and generally helped everybody.
She also remembered her one previous life. She used to be one of the wives of the God
Malabhari in the Tavatimsa heaven. So she would often pray that she might be born there again in her next life.
One day she fell ill and passed away. And she was really reborn in the Tavatimsa heaven. The other gods did not even miss her, because one hundred years in the human world is just one day in Tavatimsa. So they asked her, where had she been the whole morning. She then told them the whole story.
When the Buddha heard, that Pati Pujika died, he explained that the life was very brief. Before the beings could be satisfied in the pleasures of the senses, they would be overpowered by death.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

pupphani
hi
eva
pacinantaj
byasattamanasaj
byasatta
manasaj
naraj
atittab
kamesu
antako
kurute
vasaj