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

List of Abbreviations

# appamatto ayaj gandho yayaj tagaracandani

# yo ca silavataj gandho vati devesu uttamo

# (DhP 56)

Sentence Translation:

Very faint is this scent of tagara and sandal.
Highest is the scent of a virtuous one; it blows even amongst the gods.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

appa+matto ayaj gandho ya ayaj tagara+candani
| | | | | | | |
Adj. Adj.m. Pron.m. N.m. Rel.Pron.f. Pron.f. N.n. N.f.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|______| |________| | | |_____|
|_______________| | |________|
| |____________|
|___________________________|
|___________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yo ca silavataj gandho vati devesu uttamo
| | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. conj. Adj.m. N.m. V.act.in. N.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. | Gen.Pl. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Loc.Pl. Nom.Sg.
|____________| |_______| |_______| |
|_______________| | |
|________________________|___________|
|_______|
__________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

appamatto: appamatta-, Adj.: little, slight, insignificant. It is a compound of:
appa-, Adj.: small, little.
matta-, Adj.: measured, measuring.
Nom.Sg.m. = appamatto.

ayaj: idaj-, Pron.: this. Nom.Sg.m. = ayaj.

gandho: gandha-, N.m.: smell. Nom.Sg. = gandho.

ya: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which, such as. Nom.Sg.f. = ya.

List of Abbreviations

ayaj: idaj-, Pron.: this. Nom.Sg.f. = ayaj.

tagaracandani: tagaracandani-, N.f.: tagara and sandal. It is a compound of:
tagara-, N.n.: the incense obtained from a kind of shrub
(in Latin: Tabernaemontana coronaria).
candani-, N.f.: sandal.
Nom.Sg. = tagaracandani.

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

ca, conj.: and.

List of Abbreviations

silavataj: silavant-, Adj.: virtuous. As a N.m.: virtuous person. It is the word sila-, N.n.: virtue, with a possessive suffix -vant. Gen.Pl. = silavataj.

gandho: see above.

vati, V.: blows. The verb root is va- (to blow). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = vati.

devesu: deva-, N.m.: god, deity. Loc.Pl. = devesu.

uttamo: uttama-, Adj.: highest, utmost, best. Nom.Sg.m. = uttamo.

List of Abbreviations

Two lines of this verse form two syntactically separated sentences.
In the first sentence, subject is the noun gandho (smell, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun ayaj (this, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". It has the adjective appamatto (faint, nominative singular) as a predicate. There is a clause, ya ayaj tagaracandani (namely, this tagara and sandal). Here, the subject is the compound tagaracandani (tagara and sandal, nominative singular). It has the pronoun ayaj (this, nominative singular) as an attribute. The relative pronoun ya (that, which; nominative singular) connects the clause to the main sentence.
In the second line, the subject is the noun gandho (smell, nominative singular) with two attributes, the adjective uttamo (highest, nominative singular) and the adjective silavataj (of the virtuous ones, genitive plural). The verb is vati (blows, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense) with an attribute, the noun devesu (amongst the gods, locative plural). The relative pronoun yo (that, which; nominative singular) introduces the sentence and also connects it to the previous one. The conjunction ca (and) serves a similar purpose.

Commentary:

One of the Buddha's chief disciples, Venerable Kassapa, went to the city of Rajagaha for alms food. He wanted to give some poor man opportunity to give him food and thus obtain merit.
Sakka, the king of the gods saw this, he assumed the form of an old poor weaver and together with his wife Sujata came to Rajagaha. Venerable Kassapa stood at their door and Sakka filled his bowl with delicious rice and curry. Kassapa thought, that this cannot be a poor man - how could such a person afford so delicious food? Kassapa then realized that this man and his wife are actually Sakka and Sujata.
They admitted this fact and told Kassapa that they were too very poor - they did not have enough opportunity to give alms and thus did not accumulate any merit.
Monks asked the Buddha how Sakka knew Kassapa was such a virtuous person that any alms given to him reap great meritorious reward. The Buddha answered by this verse, telling them that the fame of Kassapa's virtue reached even amongst the gods.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appamatto
appa
matto
ayaj
gandho
ya
ayaj
tagaracandani
tagara
candani
yo
ca
silavataj
vati
devesu
uttamo