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

List of Abbreviations

# candanaj tagaraj va pi uppalaj atha vassiki

# etesaj gandhajatanaj silagandho anuttaro

# (DhP 55)

Sentence Translation:

Sandal or tagara, lotus and jasmine,
of these kinds of scent, the scent of the virtue is highest.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

candanaj tagaraj va pi uppalaj atha vassiki
| | | | | | |
N.n. N.n. conj. conj. N.n. Adv. N.f.
Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. |____| Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|___________|________|________|_______|_____|
|___________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

etesaj gandha+jatanaj sila+gandho anuttaro
| | | | | |
Pron.n. N.m. Adj.n. N.n. N.m. Adj.m.
Gen.Pl. | Gen.Pl. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |_______| |_____| |
|___________| |___________|
______| |
|_________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

candanaj: candana-, N.n.: sandal. Nom.Sg. = candanaj.

tagaraj: tagara-, N.n: the incense obtained from a kind of shrub (in Latin: Tabernaemontana coronaria). Nom.Sg. = tagaraj.

va, conj.: or.

pi, conj.: also, too.

uppalaj: uppala-, N.n.: lotus. Nom.Sg. = uppalaj.

List of Abbreviations

atha, Adv.: and also, and then.

vassiki: vassiki-, N.f.: jasmine. Nom.Sg. = vassiki.

etesaj: etad-, Pron.: this. Gen.Pl.n. = etesaj.

gandhajatanaj: gandhajata-, N.n.: odor, kind of perfume, "consisting of smell".
It is a compound of:
gandha-, N.m.: scent, smell.
jata-, Adj.: characteristic, consisting of. Originally it is a p.p. of the verb jan- (to be born).
Gen.Pl. = gandhajatanaj.

List of Abbreviations

silagandho: silagandha-, N.m.: the scent of virtue. It is a compound of:
sila-, N.n.: virtue.
gandha-, N.m.: scent.
Nom.Sg. = silagandho.

anuttaro: anuttara-, Adj.: highest. Literally: "to which there is no higher". It is composed of the word uttara- (uttara-, Adj.: higher), which is preceded by the negative prefix an-.
Nom.Sg.m. = anuttaro.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the word silagandho (the scent of virtue, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective anuttaro (highest, nominative singular). There is no verb in this sentence, implying the verb "to be".
The object is the word gandhajatanaj (of the kinds of smell, genitive plural). It has an attribute, the pronoun etesaj (of these, genitive plural).
The first line of this verse is formed by a list of four nouns. They are all in nominative singular and are connected by the conjunctions va pi (or also) and atha (and also, and then). They are candanaj (sandal), tagaraj (tagara), uppalaj (lotus) and vassiki (jasmine). This list forms an attribute to the object etesaj gandhajatanaj.

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with that for the previous verse (DhP 54).
The "scent" or reputation of virtue is the highest. All the other natural scents cannot compete with it, because they can be smelt only for a short time and only in a short distance. But the smell of virtue can be felt for a long period of time and in all directions.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

candanaj
tagaraj
va
pi
uppalaj
atha
vassiki
etesaj
gandhajatanaj
gandha
jatanaj
silagandho
sila
gandho
anuttaro