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

List of Abbreviations

# gambhirapabbaj medhavij maggamaggassa kovidaj

# uttamattham anuppattaj tam ahaj brumi brahmanaj

# (DhP 403)

Sentence Translation:

One who is endowed with deep knowledge, intelligent, knowing the difference between what is a road and what is not,
who has reached the highest attainment - him do I call a Brahmin.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

gambhira+pabbaj medhavij magga+amaggassa kovidaj
| | | | | |
Adj. Adj.m. N.m. N.m. N.m. Adj.m.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Gen.Sg. Acc.Sg.
|____________| | |________| |
| | |___________|
|_____________|__________________|__________________

List of Abbreviations

uttama+attham anuppattaj tam ahaj brumi brahmanaj
| | | | | | |
Adj. N.n. Adj.m. Pron.m. Pron. V.act.in. N.m.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 1.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
|_________| | | | | |
|____________| | | | |
___________|_____________| | | |
|_____________|________|_______|
| |____|
|______|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

gambhirapabbaj: gambhirapabba-, Adj.: endowed with deep knowledge. It is a compound of:
gambhira-, Adj.: deep.
pabba-, Adj.: wise, endowed with knowledge. It is derived from the word pabba-, N.f.: wisdom, knowledge.
Acc.Sg.m. = gambhirapabbaj.

medhavij: medhavin-, N.m.: intelligent person, wise one. Acc.Sg. = medhavij.

maggamaggassa: maggamagga-, N.m.: what is the road and what is not. It is a compound of:
magga-, N.m.: road, path.
amagga-, N.m.: what is not the road. It is the word magga- negated by the negative prefix a-.
Euphonic combination: magga- + amagga- = maggamagga-.
Gen.Sg. = maggamaggassa.

kovidaj: kovida-, Adj.: knowing, possessing the "know-how". It is derived from the word ku, Adv. (how) and the verb root vid- (to know). Acc.Sg.m. = kovidaj.

List of Abbreviations

uttamattham: uttamattha-, N.n.: the highest attainment. It is a compound of:
uttama-, Adj.: highest, noble.
attha-, N.n.: welfare, attainment. Here in the sense of "spiritual attainment".
Euphonic combination: uttama- + attha- = uttamattha-.
Acc.Sg. = uttamattham.

anuppattaj: anupatta-, Adj.: reached, attained. It is a p.p. of the verb root ap- (to get, to obtain) with the prefixes anu- (at, to) and pa- (strengthening). Acc.Sg.m. = anuppattaj.

tam: tad-, Pron.: it. Masculine form: so-, he. Acc.Sg. = tam (him).

ahaj, Pron.: I. Nom.Sg. = ahaj.

brumi, V.: [I] say, proclaim. The verb root is bru-. 1.Sg.act.in.pres. = brumi.

brahmanaj: brahmana-, N.m.: Brahmin, a holy man. Acc.Sg. = brahmanaj.

List of Abbreviations

The subject is the pronoun ahaj (I, nominative singular). The verb is brumi ([I] say, 1st person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun brahmanaj (Brahmin, accusative singular). It has five attributes:
1) the compound gambhirapabbaj (who is endowed with deep knowledge, accusative singular).
2) the noun medhavij (intelligent, accusative singular).
3) the adjective kovidaj (knowing, accusative singular) with its attribute, the compound maggamaggassa (what is a road and what is not, genitive singular).
4) the adjective anuppattaj (who has reached, accusative singular) with its attribute, the compound uttamattham (the highest attainment, accusative singular).
5) the pronoun tam (him, accusative singular).

Commentary:

The king of gods, Sakka came to pay homage to the Buddha once. At that time, the nun Khema came for the same purpose, using her supernormal powers, flying through the sky. But when she saw Sakka there, she left. Sakka asked the Buddha who this nun was. The Buddha described Khema with this verse, adding that she was foremost amongst the nuns as for wisdom.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

gambhirapabbaj
gambhira
pabbaj
medhavij
maggamaggassa
magga
amaggassa
kovidaj
uttamattham
uttama
atthaj
anuppattaj
tam
ahaj
brumi
brahmanaj