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

List of Abbreviations

# yaj esa sahate jammi tanha loke visattika

# soka tassa pavaddhanti abhivatthaj va biranaj

# (DhP 335)

Sentence Translation:

Who in this world is conquered by this miserable thirst and craving,
his sorrows grow, like grass after rains.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yaj esa sahate jammi tanha loke visattika
| | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. Pron.f. V.med.in. Adj.f. N.f. N.m. N.f.
Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Loc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| | | |_______| | |
| | | |___________|_______|
| |________|_________________| |
| | |_______________________|
|_________________|________________|
|________|
|_______________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

soka tassa pavaddhanti abhivatthaj va biranaj
| | | | | |
N.m. Pron.m. V.act.in. Adj.n. part. N.n.
Nom.Pl. Gen.Sg. 3.Pl.pres. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|__________| | |_______|______|
|_____________| |____|
|____________________|
______________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yaj: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Acc.Sg.m. = yaj.

esa, Pron.: etad-, this. Nom.Sg.f = esa.

sahate, V.: overcomes, conquers, defeats. The verb root is sah- (to conquer).
3.Sg.med.in.pres. = sahate.

jammi: jamma-, Adj.: miserable, wretched, contemptible. Nom.Sg.f. = jammi.

tanha: tanha-, N.f.: thirst, craving. Nom.Sg. = tanha.

loke: loka-, N.m.: world. Loc.Sg. = loke.

List of Abbreviations

visattika: visattika-, N.f.: craving, lust, desire. It is a synonym of tanha. Nom.Sg. = visattika.

soka: soka-, N.m.: grief, sorrow. Nom.Pl. = soka.

tassa: tad-, Pron.: that. Gen.Sg.m. = tassa.

pavaddhanti, V.: grow. The verb root is vaddh-, with the strengthening prefix pa-.
3.Pl.act.in.pres. = pavaddhanti.

abhivatthaj: abhivattha-, Adj.: rained upon, watered. It is a p.p. of the verb root vas- (to rain) with the prefix abhi- (over). Nom.Sg.n. = abhivatthaj.

va, part.: as, like.

biranaj: birana-, N.n.: Birana grass, a kind of fragrant grass. Nom.Sg. = biranaj.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
1) yaj esa sahate jammi tanha loke visattika (who in this world is conquered by this miserable thirst). There are two subjects in this sentence, the nouns tanha (thirst, nominative singular) and visattika (craving, nominative singular). They have two attributes, the adjective jammi (miserable, nominative singular) and the pronoun esa (this, nominative singular). The verb is sahate (conquers, 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun loke (in this world, locative singular). The object is the relative pronoun yaj (whom, accusative singular).
2) soka tassa pavaddhanti abhivatthaj va biranaj (his sorrows grow, like grass after rains). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the dependent clause b):
a) soka tassa pavaddhanti (his sorrows grow). The subject is the noun soka (sorrows, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the pronoun tassa (his, genitive singular). The verb is pavaddhanti (grow, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense).
b) abhivatthaj va biranaj (like grass after rains). The subject is the noun biranaj (Birana grass, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle abhivatthaj (rained upon, nominative singular). The particle va (like) connects the clause to the main sentence.

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 334) and the two following verses (DhP 336 and DhP 337).
Thirst and craving are one of the main roots of evil, origins of suffering. The more we are in power of craving, the more suffering and sorrow will befall us. To cut off the craving in our minds is to destroy all sorrow and suffering.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yaj
esa
sahate
jammi
tanha
loke
visattika
soka
tassa
pavaddhanti
abhivatthaj
va
biranaj