Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# yavad eva anatthaya battaj balassa jayati

# hanti balassa sukkajsaj muddham assa vipatayaj

# (DhP 72)

Sentence Translation:

A fool gains knowledge altogether for his harm.
It kills his fortune; it destroys his head.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yavad eva anatthaya battaj balassa jayati
| | | | | |
Rel.Adv. part. N.m. N.n. N.m. V.med.in.
|_________| Dat.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|_________| |_______| |
|________________|___________|
|_______|

List of Abbreviations

hanti balassa sukkajsaj muddham assa vipatayaj
| | | | | |
V.act.in. N.m. N.m. N.m. Pron.m. Adj.n.
3.Sg.pres. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |________| |_______| |
|_______________| |___________|
|______________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yavad, Rel.Adv.: as long as, as far as (also spelled yava).

eva, part.: just, only.
The phrase yavad-eva can be translated as: altogether, in short, indeed.

anatthaya: anattha-, N.m.: disadvantage, loss, misfortune, harm. It is the word attha-, N.m.: gain, advantage, profit, negated by the negative prefix an-.
Dat.Sg. = anatthaya.

battaj: batta-, N.n.: knowledge. It is a noun derived from the verb root ba- (to know).
Nom.Sg. = battaj.

List of Abbreviations

balassa: bala-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person.
Gen.Sg. = balassa.

jayati, V.: is born, arises. The verb root is jan- (to produce). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = jayati or jayate.

hanti, V.: kills. The verb root is han-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = hanti.

balassa: see above.

List of Abbreviations

sukkajsaj: sukkajsa-, N.m.: bright lot, fortune. It is a compound of:
sukka-, Adj.: clear, bright, pure.
ajsa-, N.m.: point, corner, side.
Acc.Sg. = sukkajsaj.

muddham: muddha-, N.m.: head. Acc.Sg. = muddham.

assa: idam-,Pron.: it. Gen.Sg.m. = assa (his).

vipatayaj: vipatayant-, Adj.: destroying, tearing open. It is an ap.pr.p. of the verb vipatayati (to destroy, to tear open). This verb is a causative form of the verb vipatati (to fall to pieces). The verb root is pat- (to fall) with the prefix vi- (apart). Nom.Sg.n. = vipatayaj.

List of Abbreviations

The first line of this verse forms the first sentence. Here the subject is battaj (knowledge, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun balassa (fool's, genitive singular). The verb is jayati (is born, 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun anatthaya (for harm, dative singular). This noun has an attribute, the phrase yavad-eva (only, altogether).
The second line consists of two loosely connected sentences. The first is hanti balassa sukkajsaj ([it] kills fool's fortune). Here, the subject is omitted, the subject from the previous sentence (battaj) is implied. The verb is hanti (kills, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is sukkajsaj (fortune, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the noun balassa (fool's, genitive singular). In the second part, the subject is again omitted (again, the noun battaj is implied). The active present participle vipatayaj (destroys, nominative singular) serves as a verb in this sentence. The object is the noun muddham (head, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun assa (his, genitive singular).

Commentary:

Venerable Moggallana once saw a peta-ghost on one of his alms rounds. The Buddha then related the story about this particular ghost. He said, that a long time ago he was a man very skilful in throwing stones. He studied this art for a long time and then he asked his teacher for permission to try his skills. His teacher warned him not to hit cows or people - he would have to pay compensations to the owner of the cow or the relatives of that person.
This foolish man then went out and saw a holy man. Since the holy man had no relatives, he thought that this would be a good practice target. So he threw stones at the holy man and killed him. The public then became very angry and killed the man in turn. Besides, he was reborn many times in very miserable states. In this present existence, he was reborn as a peta-ghost whose head was being hit with hot hammers.
The Buddha then explained by this verse that a fool gains knowledge only for his misfortune, because he does not know how to use it properly and certainly it will cause him some harm.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yavad
eva
anatthaya
battaj
balassa
jayati
hanti
sukkajsaj
sukka
ajsaj
muddham
assa
vipatayaj