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

List of Abbreviations

# appamadena maghava devanaj setthataj gato

# appamadaj pasajsanti pamado garahito sada

# (DhP 30)

Sentence Translation:

By conscientiousness did Indra become the chief amongst the gods.
Conscientiousness is praised, negligence is always censured.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

a+ppamadena maghava devanaj setthataj gato
| | | | | |
neg. N.m. N.m. N.m. N.n. Adj.m.
| Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Pl. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|______| | | | |
| | |_______| |
| | |__________|
| |__________________|
|_____________________|

List of Abbreviations

a+ppamadaj pasajsanti pamado garahito sada
| | | | | |
neg. N.m. V.act.in. N.m. Adj.m. Adv.
| Acc.Sg. 3.Pl.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. |
|______| | |________| |
|____________| |__________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

appamadena: appamada-, N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamada-, N.m.: negligence. Doubled p is due to the euphonic combination (a + pamada = appamada). Ins.Sg. = appamadena.

maghava: maghavan-, N.m.: another name of the Vedic god Indra. Nom.Sg. = maghava.

devanaj: deva-, N.m.: god, deity. Gen.Pl. = devanaj.

setthataj: setthata-, N.n.: a foremost place, "best-ness". An abstract of the word settha-, Adj.: best. Acc.Sg. = setthataj.

gato: gata-, Adj.: gone. It is a p.p. of the verb gam- (to go). Nom.Sg.m. = gato.

List of Abbreviations

appamadaj: appamada-, N.m. See above. Acc.Sg. = appamadaj.

pasajsanti, V.: to praise, to commend. The verb sajs- (to proclaim, to point out) with the strenghtening prefix pa-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = pasajsanti.

pamado: pamada-, N.m.: negligence. Nom.Sg. = pamado.

garahito: garahita-, Adj.: blamed, censured. It is a p.p. of the verb garah- (to censure, to blame, to scold). Nom.Sg.m. = garahito.

sada, Adv.: always.

List of Abbreviations

This gatha consists of three grammatically separated sentences. They are:

1) appamadena maghava devanaj setthataj gato (by conscientiousness did Indra become the chief amongst the gods). Here the subject is the word maghava (Indra, nominative singular). The past participle gato (gone) serves as a verb in this sentence. It has an attribute, the word appamadena (by conscientiousness, instrumental singular). The object is setthataj (to the foremost place, accusative singular) with its attribute devanaj (of the gods, genitive plural).

2) appamadaj pasajsanti (they praise conscientiousness). The subject is omitted, the personal pronoun "they" is supposed here. The verb is pasajsanti (praise, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is appamadaj (conscientiousness, accusative singular).

3) pamado garahito sada (negligence is always censured). The subject here is the word pamado (negligence, nominative singular). The verb is the past participle garahito (blamed, censured, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adverb sada (always).

Commentary:

A young prince named Mahali from the Licchavi state came to see the Buddha. He wanted to hear some teachings, so the Buddha told him the Sakkapabha Sutta (The Sutta of Sakka's questions). Mahali wondered how was it possible, that the Buddha knew so much about Sakka, the king of the gods. Has the Buddha ever met Sakka?
The Buddha confirmed that he indeed has seen Sakka and further told Mahali the story of Sakka's previous existence.
He was a man named Magha. He was very righteous and did a lot of charitable work, building roads and rest houses with his friends. He took seven obligations: to support his parents, to respect elders, to be gentle of speech, to avoid backbiting, to be generous and not avaricious, to speak the truth and to restrain himself from loosing temper. He was always mindful and kept all of them. Thus in his next existence he became Sakka, the king of gods.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appamadena
maghava
devanaj
setthataj
gato
appamadaj
pasajsanti
pamado
garahito
sada