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

List of Abbreviations

# na ta j mata pita kayira abbe va pi ca bataka

# samm apanihitaj cittaj seyyaso naj tato kare

# (DhP 43)

Sentence Translation:

What a mother, father or even other relatives can not do,

a well directed mind can do even far better than that.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na ta j mata pita kayira abbe va pi ca bataka

| | | | | | | | | |
neg. Pron.n. N.f. N.m. V.act. Adj.m. conj. conj. conj. N.m.
| Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Pl. | | | Nom.Pl.
| | | | | | |____|____| |
| | | | | |________|____________|
| | |________|_______|____________| |
|_______|_______________________| |_____________|
|___| |
|________________________________________|
List of Abbreviations

samm a+panihitaj cittaj seyyaso naj tato kare

| | | | | | |
Adv. Adj.n. N.n. Adv. Pron.m. Adv. V.act.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt.
|__________| | |______|______| |
|_____________| | |_____________|
| |_________|
|____________________|
_____________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

ta j: tad, Pron.: that. Acc.Sg.n.: taj.

m ata: matar, N.f.: mother. Nom.Sg. = mata.

pit a: pitar. N.m.: father. Nom.Sg. = pita.

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

List of Abbreviations

a bbe: abba-, Adj.: other. Nom.Pl.m.: abbe.

v a, conj.: or.

pi, conj.: also.

ca, conj.: and.

bataka: bataka-, N.m.: relative. Nom.Pl. = bataka.

List of Abbreviations

samm apanihitaj: sammapanihita-, Adj: well directed. A compound of:

samm a, Adv.: well.
pa nihita-, Adj.: directed, applied. It is a p.p. of the verb dha- (to put) with prefixes
pa- (strengthening) and ni- (down).
Nom.Sg. = samm apanihitaj.
citta j: citta-, N.n.: mind. Acc.Sg. = cittaj.
seyyaso, Adv: still better.
List of Abbreviations

na j: 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 kayir a (see above) and kare are possible.

List of Abbreviations

The two lines form two sentences. In the first one, the subject is triple: m ata (mother), pita (father) and bataka (relatives). They are all in nominative singular, except for the last one (bataka), which is in nominative plural. This word has an attribute, the adjective abbe (others, nominative plural). The verb is kayira (can do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative), negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the pronoun taj (that, accusative singular). The three conjunctions (va, or; pi, also; ca, and) connect the subjects together, but mainly they serve metrical purposes.

In the second sentence, the subject is the word citta j (mind, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the compound sammapanihitaj (well directed, nominative singular). The verb is kare (can do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative) with an attribute, the adverb seyyaso (even better). The object is naj (him, accusative singular). The adverb tato (than that) connects this sentence to the first one.

Commentary:
In the city of Soreyya, there once lived a son of rich man. His name was also Soreyya. Once he was going with friend in a luxurious carriage to take a bath. They saw
Mahakaccayana Thera adjusting his robe before he entered Soreyya to get his alms food. Soreyya said: "I wish the monk was my wife, or my wife had a complexion like he has!" With that he changed to a woman. He was ashamed and ran away and began to travel to the city of Taxila. His friend was looking for him everywhere, but did not find any trace.
Soreyya (now woman) offered her ring to some people, going to Taxila, and they took her with them in a carriage. When they got there, the people told one young rich man about the beautiful girl who came with them to the city. The man married her. She gave birth to two sons, but also had two sons from the previous marriage as a man.
Once a merchant from Soreyya came to Taxila to do some business. She sent for him, because she recognized an old friend in him. But of course, he did not know who she was. She asked many questions about her old family and other friends. The man related to her the story about the disappeared man. She revealed her identity and told him all what happened. The man advised her to ask pardon from the Thera.
Mahakaccayana was invited to her house and she offered him alms food. The lady explained what happened and asked for pardon. The Thera said: "Get up, I forgive you." With that she became a man again.
But he kept thinking how during a single life his body could undergo two changes of sex and have children both as a man and as a woman. He felt these things were very repulsive and decided to leave the lay life.
People often asked him if he loved more the two sons he had as a man or the two sons he had as a woman. He always answered that the sons whom he (as a woman) personally delivered were closer to him. People asked him this question so often that he became ashamed and annoyed. He stayed by himself, diligently meditating on the decay of the body. Soon he attained arahantship. When people again asked him the same question, he said he had no affection for any one in particular.
Others thought he does not speak the truth, so they asked the Buddha about it. But he told them that Soreyya does not lie. Now he is an arahant, his well directed mind brought him a well being which neither the father nor the mother could bestow on him.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
taj
mata
pita
kayira
abbe
va
pi
ca
bataka
samm apanihitaj
samm a
panihitaj
cittaj
seyyaso
naj
tato
kare