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

List of Abbreviations

# diso disaj yaj taj kayira veri va pana verinaj

# micchapanihitaj cittaj papiyo naj tato kare

# (DhP 42)

Sentence Translation:

Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a hater to a hated one,
wrongly directed mind can do one even worse (evil).

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

diso disaj yaj taj kayira veri va pana verinaj
| | | | | | | | |
N.m. N.m. Rel.Pron. Pron. V.act. N.m. conj. part. N.m.
Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg. | | Acc.Sg.
|___________| |_______| | |_____|____|_____|
|_________________| | |___|
|___________________|____________|
|____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

miccha+panihitaj cittaj papiyo naj tato kare
| | | | | | |
Adv. Adj.n. N.n. Adj. Pron. Adv. V.act.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt.
|__________| | |______|_____| |
|______________| | |___________|
| |________|
|_____________________|
______________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

diso: disa-, N.m.: enemy. Nom.Sg. = diso.

disaj: diso-, N.m.: see above. Acc.Sg. = disaj.

yaj: yad-, Rel.Pron.: [that,] what. Acc.Sg.m.n. = yaj.

taj: tad-, Pron.: that. Acc.Sg.m.n. = taj. yaj + taj = Adv., whatever.

kayira, V.: would do. The verb root kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kayira.

veri: verin-, N.m.: "hater", somebody bearing hostility. Derived (by adding the possessive suffix -in) from the word vera-, N.n.: hatred. Nom.Sg. = veri.

List of Abbreviations

va, conj.: or.

pana, part.: indeed.

verinaj: verin-, N.m.: see above. Acc.Sg. = verinaj.

micchapanihitaj: micchapanihita-, Adj.: wrongly directed. A compound of:
miccha, Adv.: wrongly, badly.
panihita-, Adj.: directed, applied. It is a p.p. of the verb dha- (to put) with
prefixes pa- (strengthening) and ni- (down).
Nom.Sg.n. = micchapanihitaj.

List of Abbreviations

cittaj: citta-, N.n.: mind. Acc.Sg. = cittaj.

papiyo, Adj.Ind.: worse. It is a comparative of the word papa-, Adj.: bad.

naj: ena-, Pron.: he. Acc.Sg. = enaj or naj.

tato, Adv.: than that.

kare, V.: would do. The verb root kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kare. Note, that for 3.Sg.act.opt. both kayira (see above) and kare are possible.

List of Abbreviations

The main sentence is in the second line. Here, the subject of the sentence is the word
cittaj (mind, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the compound micchapanihitaj (wrongly directed, nominative singular). The verb is kare (can do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative) with an attribute, the indeclinable adverb papiyo (worse). The object is naj (him, accusative singular). The adverb tato (than that) connects the main sentence to the relative clause in the first line.
The relative clause consists of two parts:
1) diso disaj yaj taj kayira (whatever an enemy might do to an enemy). Here, the subject is the word diso (enemy, nominative singular) and the verb kayira (would do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun disaj (to the enemy, accusative singular). The phrase yaj - taj (what - that) we should rather take as one adverbial phrase (whatever).
2) veri va pana verinaj (or a hater to a hater). The subject is the noun veri (hater, nominative singular) and the object verinaj (to a hater, accusative singular). The verb is omitted, kayira (would do) from the previous sentence is implied. The particle pana (indeed) is here only for metrical purposes. The conjunction va (or) connects these two parts of the relative clause.

Commentary:

In the country of Kosala there once lived a herdsman named Nanda. He looked after the cows of the famous benefactor Anathapindika. Sometimes he would go to Anathapindika's house and listen to the Buddha's discourses. Once Nanda asked the Buddha to come to his house for alms food. The Buddha replied that he would come, but the time is not yet right and Nanda should wait.
After some time the Buddha was traveling and went off his usual route to see Nanda, because he knew that the time for him to do so was ripe. Nanda received him, served the Buddha and monks milk and milk products and all kinds of food. This lasted for seven days. On the last day after hearing the Buddha's discourse, Nanda attained the first stage of awakenment.
When the Buddha was leaving, Nanda carried his bowl for him some distance and then turned back home. Suddenly a hunter, his old enemy, shot him. The monks saw Nanda laying dead on the road. They told the Buddha that because of them, because they came to his house and he was accompanying them, Nanda died. But the Buddha said that there was no escape from death for him. And he told the monks this verse (DhP 42).

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

diso
disaj
yaj
taj
kayira
veri
va
pana
verinaj
micchapanihitaj
miccha
panihitaj
cittaj
papiyo
naj
tato
kare