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

List of Abbreviations

# malitthiya duccaritaj maccheraj dadato malaj

# mala ve papaka dhamma asmij loke paramhi ca

# (DhP 242)

Sentence Translation:

Wrong conduct is the stain of a woman. Stinginess is the stain of a donor.
Evil things are impure - in this world as well as in the other one.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

malaj itthiya duccaritaj maccheraj dadato malaj
| | | | | |
N.n. N.f. N.n. N.n. Adj.m. N.n.
Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|___________| | | |_______|
|____________| |___________|

List of Abbreviations

mala ve papaka dhamma asmij loke paramhi ca
| | | | | | | |
Adj.m. part. Adj.m. N.m. Pron.m. N.m. Adj.m. conj.
Nom.Pl. | Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Loc.Sg. Loc.Sg. Loc.Sg. |
|________| |________| |______|_______| |
| | | |_________|
| | |________|
|______________|_____________________|
|_______|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

malaj: mala-, N.n.: impurity, stain, dirt. Nom.Sg. = malaj.

itthiya: itthi-, N.f.: woman. Gen.Sg. = itthiya.
Euphonic combination: malaj + itthiya = malitthiya (because of metrical requirements).

duccaritaj: duccarita-, Adj.: wrong-conduct, wrong action. It is the word carita-, N.n.: action, conduct (originally it is the p.p. of the verb root car-, to walk, to act), with the prefix du- (wrong, bad).
Acc.Sg. = duccaritaj.

maccheraj: macchera-, N.n.: avarice, stinginess, envy. Nom.Sg. = maccheraj.

dadato: dadant-, Adj.: giver, donor. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root da- (to give). Gen.Sg.m. = dadato.

malaj: see above.

mala: mala-, Adj.: dirty, stained, impure. Nom.Pl.m. = mala.

List of Abbreviations

ve, part.: indeed.

papaka: papaka-, Adj.: evil, bad. It is the word papa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing with the adjective suffix -ka. Nom.Pl.m. = papaka.

dhamma: dhamma-, N.m.: here does not mean Buddha's teaching, but should be interpreted rather as "state" or even more generally "thing". Nom.Pl. = dhamma.

asmij: idaj-, Pron.: this. Loc.Sg.m. = asmij.

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

paramhi: para-, Adj.: different, other. Loc.Sg.m. = paramhi.

ca, conj.: and.

List of Abbreviations

This sentence consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are
1) malitthiya duccaritaj (wrong conduct is the stain of a woman). The subject is the noun duccaritaj (wrong conduct, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the malaj (stain, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun itthiya (of a woman, genitive singular).
2) maccheraj dadato malaj (stinginess is the stain of a donor). The subject is the noun maccheraj (stinginess, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the malaj (stain, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the active present participle dadato (of a giving one, genitive singular).
3) mala ve papaka dhamma asmij loke paramhi ca (evil things are impure - in this world as well as in the other one). The subject is the noun dhamma (things, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the adjective papaka (evil, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". It has an attribute, the noun loke (in the world, locative singular). This word has two attributes, the pronoun asmij (in this, locative singular) and the adjective paramhi (in the other, locative singular). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and). The object is the adjective mala (impure, nominative plural). The particle ve (indeed) serves mainly for metrical purposes.

Commentary:

A certain woman committed adultery. Her husband was very ashamed and he avoided his friends and the Buddha. But after some time he came to see the Buddha and told him about his trouble. The Buddha told him this verse (and the following one, DhP 243), saying that all these taints originate from ignorance.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

malaj
itthiya
duccaritaj
maccheraj
dadato
mala
ve
papaka
dhamma
asmij
loke
paramhi
ca