Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# dhanapalo nama kubjaro

# katukabhedano dunnivarayo

# baddho kabalaj na bhubjati

# sumarati nagavanassa kubjaro

# (DhP 324)

Sentence Translation:

The elephant named Dhanapala,
difficult to control in his rut
and bound does not eat his food.
He remembers his life in the elephant-grove.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

dhana+palo nama kubjaro
| | | |
N.n. N.m. N.n. N.m.
| Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|_______| | |
|___________| |
|____________|
|______________________________

List of Abbreviations

katuka+bhedano dunnivarayo
| | |
N.n. Adj.m. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|__________| |
|_____________|
___________|____________________________________

List of Abbreviations

baddho kabalaj na bhubjati
| | | |
Adj.m. N.m. neg. V.act.in.
Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
___| | |______|
| |________|
|_____________|

List of Abbreviations

sumarati naga+vanassa kubjaro
| | | |
V.act.in. N.m. N.n. N.m.
3.Sg.pres. | Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |______| |
|_____________| |
|_________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

dhanapalo: dhanapala-, N.m.: name of an elephant. Lit. "guardian of wealth". It is a compound of:
dhana-, N.n.: wealth.
pala-, N.m.: guardian, protector.
Nom.Sg. = dhanapalo.

nama: nama-, N.n.: name. Acc.Sg. = nama (named, by name).

kubjaro: kubjara-, N.m.: elephant. Nom.Sg. = kubjaro.

katukabhedano: katukabhedana-, Adj.: in rut, rutting. Lit. "having a pungent juice exuding from the temples". It is a compound of:
katuka-, N.n.: pungency, acidity, bitterness.
bhedana-, N.n.: breaking. It is derived from the verb root bhid- (to break).
Nom..Sg.m. = katukabhedano.

List of Abbreviations

dunnivarayo: dunnivaraya-, Adj.: difficult to restrain, difficult to hold back. A compound of:
du-, pref.: hard, difficult, bad.
nivaraya-, Adj.: to be restrained, to be kept back.
Euphonic combination: du- + nivaraya- = dunnivaraya-.
Nom.Sg.m. = dunnivarayo.

baddho: baddha-, Adj.: bound, in bondage, tied up. It is a p.p. of the verb root bandh- (to bind). Nom.Sg.m. = baddho.

kabalaj: kabala-, N.m.: food, edible thing, mouthful. Acc.Sg. = kabalaj.

na, neg.: not.

List of Abbreviations

bhubjati, V.: eats. The verb root is bhuj- (to eat). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bhubjati.

sumarati, V.: remembers. The verb root is sar-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = sumarati.
The more usual form is sarati.

nagavanassa: nagavana-, N.n.: elephant forest, elephant-grove. It is a compound of:
naga-, N.m.: elephant.
vana-, N.n.: forest.
Gen.Sg. = nagavanassa.

kubjaro: see above.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) dhanapalo nama kubjaro katukabhedano dunnivarayo baddho kabalaj na bhubjati (the elephant named Dhanapala, difficult to control in his rut and bound does not eat [his] food). The subject is the noun kubjaro (elephant, nominative singular). It has four attributes. First of them is the compound dhanapalo (Dhanapala, nominative singular). This word has an attribute, the noun nama (named, accusative singular). The three remaining attributes are the compounds katukabhedano (rutting, nominative singular), dunnivarayo (difficult to control, nominative singular) and the past participle baddho (bound, nominative singular). The verb is bhubjati (eats, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the noun kabalaj (food, accusative singular).
2) sumarati nagavanassa kubjaro (the elephant remembers [his life in] the elephant-grove). The subject is the noun kubjaro (elephant, nominative singular). The verb is sumarati (remembers, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the compound nagavanassa (the elephant-grove, genitive singular).

Commentary:

In Savatthi there lived a rich Brahmin. When his wife died, he gave all his wealth to his sons. After that his sons did not care about him at all. He was left penniless and reduced to begging. He went to the Buddha and asked for advice.
The Buddha told him to tell his story wherever there was a large gathering of people. So the Brahmin went to the meeting of all the Brahmins from Savatthi (where his sons were also present) and told his story. People in the crowd got very angry and his sons were embarrassed.
From that time on, they took very good care of their father. The Brahmin was receiving four food-trays every day and he gave two of them to the Buddha in alms. After a time, the Buddha got invited to the house of the eldest son and there he spoke this verse: although Dhanapala was tied up in captivity, he still remembered his parents in the forest.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

dhanapalo
dhana
palo
nama
kubjaro
katukabhedano
katuka
bhedano
dunnivarayo
baddho
kabalaj
na
bhubjati
sumarati
nagavanassa
naga
vanassa